Left Holding the Baby
by Tribal Matriach
Summary: What should have happened in season 9First Narrative is Daniel, switching to Jack as soon as possible.Character death in chapter 20
1. Chapter 1

**1.**

**Daniel**

Things were getting back to 'normal', well as normal as they ever can be at the SGC. New staff came and went, but the old guard still inhabited the corridors. Walters voice echoed down the halls, Siler still had his own special bed in the infirmary, the marines of SG3 were still loud, annoying and still told off colour jokes in the commissary when no 'brass' was about. However changes had been made, and one of the hardest to adapt to was the absence of Jack O'Neill.

He had filled a room, just by his sheer force of personality, he had been loud, annoying, full of nervous energy, always breaking things, bordering on insubordinate, cheeky, loyal, brave, self sacrificing, strong, able… such a contradiction in terms that even those who liked him tended to get annoyed, and even the ones who didn't like him (and there were one or two, but that was about all) tended to smile unwillingly at his antics!

The 'new' man at the helm seemed…well…quiet…so far. Hammond had had a commanding presence all of his own, then he was followed by the natural force that was O'Neill, but this new man… not everyone was sure about him. He also seemed to have a fascination with the new doctor, and she was young enough to be his daughter for Gods sake! She didn't seem to care for him as much as he did for her, but then again, she could just be better at hiding it, though some of the looks she threw at his back should have severed his spine!

It was winter in Colorado Springs, and though that shouldn't make a difference, considering they were travelling to other planets, it always seemed to work out that there were less missions to go around, and more down time at this time of year.

As a regular routine SG1, well the three remaining members on earth, got in touch with each other daily, even though Teal'c was away a lot, he still kept in touch when he could. Daniel was going to be flying off soon to the Pegasus galaxy, and Sam was in the dessert, out at '51. Jack was in DC at the Pentagon, but no one wanted to risk one of them going missing again without early warning. It was just too close for them when they realised Sam had been taken for two whole days without one of them realising, and even now, three and a half years later, they kept it up.

It was a bit of a surprise for Hank Landry when Daniel Jackson asked to see him, he had met the archaeologist of course, at the meet-and-greet and had read his truly remarkable mission reports, but he had not had a chance to 'get to know' him.

"Please Dr. Jackson, come in and take a seat, what can I do for you?"

"This may seem like an odd question General, but have you heard from Jack today?" Daniel looked at the man behind the desk with his piercing blue eyes, the sheer concentration in his gaze made Hank straighten the files on his desk as if HE were the subordinate.

"Is there any reason why I should have? I have a scheduled conference call with him and a couple of others in an hour"

"It's just that I can't get hold of him, his phone is either turned off or out of range of the network, and I spoke to him yesterday afternoon and he had no plans to be anywhere but in DC, and he NEVER turns his phone off!" Daniel looked straight at Landry again, this time assessingly "Sam also is not answering her phone, and her lab says she didn't call in sick"

Landry's face never even twitched, either he had not heard the ten million rumours about the military half of the team, or he would be a damn fine poker player. As Jack had personally vouched for him, and it was very rare for Jack to be wrong about anyone, at least, not for long, Daniel felt he may be able to trust him, but the only thing was, he didn't know just how FAR. While it was no longer against the rules for Jack and Sam to be together, it could still hurt Sams career if it got out too soon that her last two promotions were recommended by her soon-to-be husband. The fact that nothing had happened between them that was not in some mission file somewhere until she was no longer under his command, had absolutely nothing to do with it, why let the truth stand in the way of a good gossip?

Landry wasn't sure what the protocol was with this, Jackson was not military, he had no rights to information, but then he was Daniel Jackson! Hank sighed and picked up the phone, the black one, and asked the switchboard to put him through to General O'Neill's office in DC. It seemed to take forever for his call to be put through. Daniel spent the whole time looking straight at him! Damn that man could concentrate; his eyes never flickered as someone who was working things out in their heads would have done. The occasional shadow walking past the plate glass window that made up almost the whole wall between the briefing room and his office never caused a twitch. He was wholly focussed on the quest he was on, and Hank started to understand some of the things Jack had told him about how he got into regular trouble, how can you sense danger when you don't even acknowledge the world around you?

He was right as well, Jacks Aide informed him that the General had not come into the office today, his driver had sat outside his apartment for almost an hour before reporting in that no one seemed to be at home, and they were busy sending someone around with keys to go in and make sure he wasn't dead or incapacitated.

The red phone rang, Landry told the aide to keep in touch, hourly and hung up so he could answer to his ultimate boss. "Yes Sir," he straightened in his chair, it was not every day that a General, even one with two stars on his shoulder, spoke to 'The Chief' "Actually sir, I have been made aware of it, yes sir… Dr. Jackson, sir…it seems that Carter is missing as well sir… I was going to, yes sir…no sir, we have not had any contact with the Asgard, there have been no reports of anyone in orbit… yes sir… I will sir, as soon as I know anything… thank you sir… I hope so sir, goodbye"

Daniel had thought that the conversation would have been about a third shorter if he had dropped the 'sirs', but he didn't say anything. He didn't know if the man had a sense of humour.

He had just put down the phone and was about to say something when the internal one rang out.

"Landry" he said "WHAT?" he jumped to his feet, Daniel jumped up as well, watching him for any sign that it was something he didn't want to share so he could leave. "Slow down…yes…yes… I have Dr. Jackson here with me, no I really think it may be something he will have an idea about… we will be right there" he put the phone down.

"Infirmary" he said and headed for the door, Daniel scrambled to follow, wondering who was hurt now, and hoping that it would be Jack and Sam returned and that they wouldn't be too bad.

The pretty new doctor met them at the doors and held a finger to her lips. She reminded Daniel of Janet, slightly in colouring, though she was several inches taller than the much beloved and missed medic, but almost every time Daniel had seen her she was scowling. Janet had made you feel better just by smiling at you, but this woman seemed to be in a permanent temper.

She moved slightly back down the corridor, rather than allowing them in, and Daniel was itching to see what had caused the quiet new man to shout on the phone.

"They arrived about five minutes ago in a beam of light, one male and one female, I isolated them and gave a quick check up before calling you, it was obvious they were not going to be threats to the security of he base" she looked at the General "now explain to me why you think a doctor of archaeology, and a linguist, is going to help?"

The General gestured in Daniels direction and said "Dr. Jackson was in my office reporting the disappearance of Maj. Gen. Jack O'Neill and Carter"

"And you think… what? That this is THEM?" she put heavy emphasis on the last word.

"Have you read either of their medical histories or mission reports?" he asked

"When have I had time?" she fairly spat at him! "I have enough work trying to catch up with the people who work here and who keep getting hurt, without looking at people who are no longer stationed here"

"Then, Doctor, I suggest you take the time to study them, oh and draw Jon O'Neill's history while you are at it"

"The Generals son?" she asked

"No he was called Charlie" Daniel supplied

She just looked at him, not one to waste words "Then who is he…?"

"He's the Asgard created, 17 year old, clone of Jack O'Neill"

She looked at him sharply and paused to absorb the information. "In that case…" she said drawing a deep breath "I suppose it is possible that they ARE the officers who are missing"

"Who do they SAY they are?" asked Daniel and she gave him an amused look, then looked to the General "You didn't tell him?"

'God please don't say they are too badly hurt to talk!' he begged the fates, 'not now, not after they finally got to be together!'

"Follow me" she said and swung the door open, Daniel trailed after her into the smallest isolation room off the infirmary, right next to the doctors office, a nurse was sat in a chair with a baby at her shoulder, and another was walking around with another, burping it!"

"Oh crap!" said Daniel


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**Daniel**

"I have both General O'Neill and Colonel Carters' DNA profile on store, so I can run a comparison, but the question is, who would want to do this?" she asked

"The Asgard" Daniel answered, he continued when the doctors face seemed to be asking for more information. "They have always had a soft spot for Jack, they think he is advanced and Thor is a close personal friend, and Sam has got them out of several nasty scrapes, in fact she saved their whole race more than once"

"But the Stargate programme is only 9 years old, how could they have made a 17 year old clone?"

"The programme is actually quite a bit older, but that is beside the point, there are several methods available to advance races to quickly age people. We went to one planet where people only lived for 100 days, a one day old child was walking and talking"

"So why would they stop at this age?" she gestured to the babies

"Jack has been 'protected' by Thor, so a full sized, fully mature clone cannot be made of him, that is why Jon is only 16, he couldn't mature past about 14-15 artificially"

"It will take until this evening to finish the DNA test, I actually started it before I contacted you, but now I have something to match it to it will save time, that is if it IS them"

One of the babies started screaming and nothing the nurse did would keep it quiet, they backed out of the room slowly so they could continue the conversation. "I need to know the second you have the results doctor" the General said "I will inform the President of what we suspect and get hold of General Hammond, so he can take over at homeworld security for a while"

"For 50 years?" Daniel asked, then remembered something "actually we could get Jon to run it, that would look good" he smirked "or if the babies really ARE Jack and Sam, and they have had a conscience transfer Jack could go back to work as soon as he can talk"

Landry chuckled at the thought of one of the most powerful people in the country running around in a pair of dungarees being potty trained and ordering the acquisition of Naqahdah, and an attack by 303s on a Goa'uld stronghold.

The nurse with the crying child came out, "Doctor, I don't know what's wrong but he won't be quiet" both men and the nurse were looking at her and she scowled

"Don't look at ME," she said "I have no idea about children" she picked the baby out of the nurses arms and handed him to the General "You have some experience, see what you can do" Daniel wondered how she knew he had experience, but then, she was his doctor.

Just then SG13 trouped in with the red-headed archaeologist Balinsky bleeding from a gash in his forearm, Wells was holding his arm high, Bosworth was propping up his other side as Wells kept pushing him over trying to get the arm as high as possible and Dixon was walking behind looking…paternally annoyed. The same look Jack used to get when Daniel got hurt doing something he considered silly.

The doctor ran over to see to the young man while leaving Landry literally holding the baby, he tried putting him to his shoulder, jiggling him, shushing him, nothing seemed to work!

Dixon turned around "If you don't stop that baby crying you will have a case of colic on your hands" he said "and believe you me, that is NO fun" the doctor looked at him, the General looked at him and Daniel smiled at him, the team leader stared to look worried.

"Colonel" the commander of the whole SGC said "You have a new assignment" he carried the baby over to him and handed him over "…baby sitting"

"Oh for gods sake!" he exclaimed "I come to work to get AWAY from the little horrors!" but he automatically rested the baby in his right arm, rubbing his stomach with his left hand in a circular path and the baby stopped crying!

"She's just started Doctor" said the second nurse coming out with the little girl. She saw the man with a quiet baby and immediately gave him her burden too, as soon as she handed her over the child settled down and gave a yawn.

Everyone beamed at the Colonel and he swore under his breath.

"Looks like you will be waiting for a member of your team to heal anyway Colonel," everyone was now speaking in low tones to avoid waking the children, "so I expect you to be available until further notice" everyone got a glare from the man and his second in command took pity on him and lifted the baby girl from his arms, she never stirred.

"I guess that answers the transference question" Daniel said "I'm sure he wouldn't have been screaming if he was 'in there'"

"Who?" Asked the SG13 leader looking at the child he was holding

"We think, that in your arms at the moment you have," he paused for dramatic effect "Major General Jack O'Neill"

Dixon looked up and saw Landry nod at him, he closed his eyes and spoke the immortal words "Oh for cryin' out loud!"

Several hours later and there was still no sign of the adult versions of the former SG1 military arm, Dixon had worked out that the nurses had forgotten to heat the babies bottles to the correct temperature, causing the stomach pain, he was giving them lessons in how to change and feed, and wind the babies so he could go home and do it all over again at the end of his shift. Wells had run into the Springs to get some baby clothes and creams and things, so that if there was an accident it would be fixable. The president was in two minds, he didn't know whether to laugh at the thought of Jack O'Neill as a baby or be worried that he could just have lost the best man in the world for the job as head of homeworld security, not to mention the foremost expert in 'gate technology

The internal phone rang and Dr. Lam said she was on her way and she was bringing the children and SG13 as well.

Daniel walked out of the Generals office, where he seemed to have taken root, and he got a coffee and sat at his usual place at the conference table, the General followed him, then in trouped SG13 with a baby EACH! Followed by the doctor.

"Twenty minutes ago another pair of babies arrived. One male, one female as before, both boys are showing symptoms of mild jaundice and I have had 'male baby 1' under a UV light for the past couple of hours, his eyes have turned brown" It usually took a bit longer but UV light made the body produce a compound to protect itself, like a sun tan, or freckles, and that same compound determined a persons eye colour, "we have a feeling that the second baby boy will have dark eyes too, though this is not certain of course."

"If it is Jack though…" Daniel said

"It isn't" she replied before he could go any further

"NOT Jack?" he asked "then who are these babies and why are they appearing in the SGC in an Asgard beam?"

"I am the wrong person to ask that of Dr. I would have thought that YOU would have a better idea, I have spent the whole day reviewing General O'Neill's file I have not had time to start on Col. Carters'!"

"I also cannot swear as yet that the girl is not Colonel Carter but I am guessing from what evidence I DO have it isn't her either"

"Please explain Doctor" the General instructed

"Ok," she picked up the remote for the view screen, and her pre loaded images appeared "This is General O'Neill's DNA sequence, this" she pressed another button and another set of coloured blobs in regimental formation appeared "is male baby 1" the representation on the screen slid so one was covering the other, and one lot of blobs turned blue, so they could see the difference "as you can see, it is close, but nowhere near a match."

"You have no idea how glad I am that it was not my boss who peed on me earlier" Dixons voice floated in the room, causing the other 3 members of his team and the SFs guarding the access points to snort in laughter.

"This is the DNA of 'female baby 1'" the doctor said and again it slid over the other two, this time with green blobs to highlight the difference between the original red and baby blue "As you can see though she is not the same as either the General or the male child she IS related to both and" click, Jacks DNA chart disappeared "if you look here" she pointed to one column "the children share mitochondrial DNA, they have the same mother" she brought Jacks back "and I am reasonably sure that General O'Neill is their father, I have sent for a specialist to come and help, as it would take him a lot less time, and at this rate we may be getting babies faster than we can DNA type them"

"Is Sam their mother?" Daniel wanted to know the doctor shook her head slightly

"I don't know as yet, I only had time for a quick glance before the next two babies arrived, I have checked them out quickly, SG13 fed them while I took footprints and a blood sample and sent it down for DNA testing but I decided to let everyone know that we are still missing two officers rather than having them 'shrunk' by a magical ray gun" the men snorted again.

The General stood up and made his way to the red phone in his office to explain what little they knew to the man in ultimate charge. SG13 stood, Balinsky with slight difficulty, but the baby was on his 'bad' arm and she weighed almost nothing, and they headed back to the infirmary. Just as they got to the door Walter appeared "Dr. Lam, two more babies have turned up!" he said


	3. Chapter 3

**3**

**Daniel**

It took two more hours for the expert to arrive and by that time he had a lot of work to do, but as with any specialist he could see at a glance certain things that a generalist cannot.

His report stated that all six babies were siblings, and not genetically identical per sex, in other words they did not have two sets of triplets, they had six brothers and sisters. He determined to an 'almost absolute probability' (the phrase annoyed the hell out of Daniel) that Jack was the father and Sam was the mother of all six children, none of them showed any 'markers' on their tests as Jon's had, though all did have a certain 'anomaly' which Dr. Lam was able to identify as the protein marker left by Jolinar (she had finally managed to read Sams file while the SG13 team-mates and a couple more people who were parents were looking after the children and the specialist was doing the DNA sequencing)

There had been no more children as yet, though as Daniel pointed out, Jack already had his ice hockey team, and no sign of either of his friends. The Daedalus was due back, in the next day or so, for refitting ready to head to Atlantis the trip that Daniel was hoping to go on, he knew he had a fortnight, but there was no way in Netu he was leaving if his friends had not been returned by then. However the ship WAS equipped to scan for other ships, even for the energy signature that Sam had noticed the cloaked ship that the trust had used, had emitted. Hopefully they would be able to find out who had Jack and Sam and was beaming babies into the SGC and WHY!

In the mean time SG7 had been dispatched to Cimmeria to get in touch with the Asgard and tell them of events. A message was sent to Teal'c on Dakara and a Goa'uld communication device with a recording on it was sent to the Tok'ra contact point.

The large isolation room, the one in which Daniel died a couple of years ago, was converted to a nursery for the babies and a paediatrician and three nurses specialising in neonatal care were brought into the facility, though they were restricted to levels above 22 where the commissary was, and Walters' PA announcements were muted (on 21 so they did not wake any sleeping infants) or changed to reflect people without clearance being in the facility.

The suggestion of Dr. Lam to have the children moved to the local Air Force Academy Hospital was shot down in flames, especially as they could not guarantee that the children wouldn't disappear again. She almost had a stand up fight with the General about it in front of everyone, pointing out that this was a front line base and not the place for babies. He tried to silence her by saying that if she did not like the management she could leave, after all she was not a military member, she had been appointed by the very man they were looking for, the one whose children she was looking to foist off on someone else.

"Where is your loyalty?" he asked "You cannot leave these babies with no one who really cares about them. Their parents are missing" he almost shouted

Dixon and his crew were watching from the side of the infirmary, even after the doctor and nurses arrived they seemed to think that they had full responsibility of the kids

"$10 they had an affair" whispered Bosworth, always a smart ass

"Done" Dixon replied

"I'll take that bet as well" Wells said. Bosworth got a nod off Balinsky as well and Daniel tapped him on the shoulder

"Put me down too" he said surprising all the Airmen

"I never suggested leaving them alone there! SG13 can be with them and I'm sure Dr. Jackson will be willing" he was glad she was sure, because he didn't know if it came to a choice if he wanted to be there for the children or find his friends so THEY could be!

"What will it look like if we send a squad of Airmen in to look after six babies?" he asked her. "Carolyn be sensible, I know it isn't ideal but it is better than the alternative"

Bosworth looked smug and winked at everyone when the General called the doctor by her given name.

"The ship will be scanning and hopefully will find the parents by tomorrow. There is also the fact of that protein marker" he pointed out "we just cannot risk the leaks that can occur at the Academy Hospital, not everyone there is military, and you KNOW what would happen, it would be a media circus as soon as they found out that sextuplets had been born, they will want to see the mother at lest!"

"I want to see the mother" Daniel said quietly and sat down on a chair.

"It's settled" the General said "they stay here"

"Make sure the NID are kept away while you are at it Sir, you wouldn't be able to out there" he waved vaguely upwards.

He received a nod, and stood and turned and walked away. He went into the nursery and heard one of the baby girls start to wind herself up to crying and he picked her up immediately, she looked him straight in the eye and he could see Sam there. He walked to one of the boys who was awake and the he saw chocolate brown eyes there, if he had not been assured that these children were products of their parents he would have been confident that they WERE clones of them!

He sang an old Egyptian lullaby until the angel in his arms fell asleep again and he places her in the plastic cot and went to his base quarters, he felt so damn helpless!

The message that the Daedalus was in orbit came through at 02:35 and Daniel was called to the control room. He wanted to be on the ship, but he could do no more there than he could where he was. The scan was negative.

However just as he was turning to go back to sleep the offworld activation lights started flashing and the 'gate started spinning. It was SG7!

They were rushed through the post mission medical and the General and Daniel and Dave Dixon were all in the infirmary questioning them rather than wait until they were free.

"Thor and Heimdall were not best pleased to hear of the loss of General O'Neill and Colonel Carter, they are dispatching the 'Samantha Carter'" he gave a small grin "To help look for them. They assure me that Loki is still locked up and is not responsible for it this time"

"When will they arrive?" the General asked

"Now" said a strange voice behind him, everyone turned to face the hologram of the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet.

"Thor" Daniel said and walked slightly forward "any news?"

"I am afraid not" the small alien hung his head "I am to request samples from the children so we can determine if Asgard technology has been used in any way" he said and another hologram appeared right next to his.

"A small sample of blood and some hair or skin will be sufficient" the second alien said.

"I can get those for you" Dr. Lam said and went to her office, leaving the door ajar so she could still hear what was going on.

"There does not seem to be any sign of a ship in orbit, the children arrived in sets of two and it resembled an Asgard beam?" he asked for clarification from Daniel.

"I can show you the security tapes of the incidents if you wish" Landry said, looking from one to the other

"Oh sorry" Daniel said "Let me introduce you, Thor, Heimdall, this is General Landry, he is in charge of the SGC now"

"I do hope this does not mean 'Kinsey'" and the large amount of contempt the little mannequin put into that word was astounding "has had O'Neill removed, the Asgard High Council will not be pleased to hear that"

"No indeed Thor" the General was quick to assure him, "General O'Neill has been promoted to be in charge of all things to do with Earth Security, he is MY superior officer"

"O'Neill is superior" Thor said, and did not expand on the cryptic phrase.

A nurse arrived carrying a rack with test tubes in and Dr. Lam came out and took them off her, "these are the samples you requested, they are labelled according to sex and in order of arrival, we haven't named any of the children, that is for the parents to do" she held out her hand, maybe not realising that the aliens were holograms and a beam of light took the rack and its contents away.

Heimdall stepped off the holographic generator up in orbit and disappeared from view.

"I will contact you when I have some news" Thor said, looking directly at Daniel, he inclined his head and disappeared as well.

"And so we wait, again" Daniel said


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

**Daniel (but not for long!)**

It was late afternoon before the Asgard got back in touch. This time Thor beamed into the nursery, frightening the nurses and the baby doctor to death! 'So much for security keeping them from going where they are not supposed to in case they see something they do not have clearance for,' thought Daniel. He got up and grabbed the nurse that was screaming her lungs out and shoved her out of the room, he knew the noise would alert everyone else, so he didn't need to.

"Thor! You should have appeared in the briefing room as usual" he chastised the little grey man, making sure that the other two nurses and the paediatrician were not going to faint, flee or attack.

"Apologies, Daniel Jackson" he said, causing the three newcomers to jump. "I did say that I would be contacting YOU when I had further news"

"We better wait until everyone gets here," he could hear the thumping of a security detail coming towards the room, but when the door burst open it was SG13

"THOR!" Dixon exclaimed and waved to his men to lower their sidearms, "the General will be here soon I guess, the nurse will be stopped before she exits the mountain"

He saw an SF passing by and called him in, "go get Dr. Lam please, and cancel the armed security detail that is on its way"

Dixon saw the detail turning the corner and waved the SF into the main infirmary again as he stepped out of the room to dismiss them.

General Landry arrived just at the same time as the Doctor, she glared at him when he opened the door for her to go through, he sighed.

"Thor. I understand from the screaming woman we have now restrained that you may have some news" was that snippiness in the Generals voice, Daniel wondered 'oh god even HE was starting to sound like Jack now!'

"My apologies General, I was lead to believe that if someone was in the SGC they would know who I was, if not in person, then my race" Landry closed his eyes and sighed.

"No, Thor, I apologise, I am worried for my friend and have not slept in more than 36 hours, please, continue"

"We have determined that the children are 2 of your earth days old" The paediatrician stepped up and looked for permission from the General, he received a nod

"I think you are wrong" he said

Thor just tilted his head and blinked

"These children have healed umbilical cord scars" he looked around at the people in the room, only seeing two none medical staff who seemed to understand "Navels" he said, clearing it up for anyone who needed clarification. "It takes over a week for the scar to heal after birth"

"You misunderstand me" Thor said "The children were CONCEIVED two days ago, not born then"

The doctor snorted "I think you need lessons in Human anatomy, it takes 40 weeks from conception to birth give or take a few weeks"

"And you need lessons in Asgard technology" Thor stated, turning away from the doctor. "We are hoping because of the timing of the children being conceived that O'Neill and Colonel Carter are still alive" he paused and then looked at General Landry "As to why they have sent the children here, I am not sure, it could be that they have not got what they are looking for, there may well be more children to come" Oh JOY!

Thor was prophetically accurate, the next day, about 05:30 when male baby 1 and female baby 3 were being fed their empty cots were filled with light and when the staff could see again there were two more children occupying them. The nurse who was not holding a baby (the one who had run away screaming the day before) jumped and hit the alarm button rather than running away. Daniel, who had been asleep in a chair in the corner, heard the beam noise and realised what had happened immediately, he picked up both new children and held them until they could be checked out and allowed into the baby population without fear of contamination.

Less than five minutes later ANOTHER beam shone in the corner of the room, which was full of people again, and a tall grey haired man in a pair of sleep shorts and a blonde woman in a pair of shortie pyjamas appeared out of thin air. "JACK!! SAM!! THANK GOD!!!" Daniel cried out in joy.

**Jack**

Ok so he knew that he had not gone to sleep stood in the Iso room at the SGC. He had no idea how he had got here or why he was in a room with Hank Landry and his daughter, SG13, Daniel and what looked like a full nursery, with medical staff, oh, not forgetting the beautiful blonde by his side who had agreed to marry him just three days ago!

"Daniel" he said

"Jack" came the reply

"Daniel" he said again, but it wasn't working, usually Daniel got annoyed by the second time he said his name, this time he was just beaming! And he had two babies in his arms! "care to explain?" he nodded in the direction of the children.

"Long story" Daniel said

"Figures" he replied, he was watching Daniel closely, he was in danger of dropping one of the children, and everyone else was looking in the direction of Sam and himself, so he took a couple of steps and removed the child in danger and held him(her?) up to his shoulder while he looked around.

"Anyone care to START to explain?" there was a bright beam of light and Thor appeared with another Asgard beside him "Thor! Old Buddy! And Heimdall, whacha doin'?" he asked

"How can you tell the difference?" the baby doctor asked

"They look nothing alike!" Jack gave the SGC members a grin and turned back to the aliens "So to what do we owe this pleasure?" he asked

"We were contacted when you went missing O'Neill" Thor said, "and when the children started appearing"

"Yeah what's with the rug rats Hank? I didn't promote you so you could turn the SGC into a crèche" he seemed unconscious of the fact that he was holding one of the children.

"I could ask you the same thing Jack, after all they ARE all yours!"

Jack stood absolutely still, his eyes scanned everyone he knew in the room and found the same answer in each gaze. "Mine?" he asked

"Both of yours" Daniel clarified nodding at Sam, who was still stood where she had appeared, she had not reacted in any way since beaming in.

"Sam?" Jack spoke to her, she stood, gazing ahead but not focusing on anything, Jack passed the baby to Carolyn Lam and went up to his fiancée while the doctor passed her new burden to Dave Dixon "Sam" he clicked his fingers in her face "Sam honey," he turned to Thor "What's wrong with her?"

"I do not know O'Neill, we transported you direct from the vessel you were on into this room, we did not wish to keep you from your friends or your children, would you like us to examine Colonel Carter aboard the Samantha Carter?"

"New ship?" he received a nod, and with a glance at Carolyn he said "Yes please buddy" and Heimdall and Sam disappeared. "No offence Carolyn" Jack said, "They are better equipped than we are"

He turned to Balinsky and said "mind going and rustling up a set of BDUs for me?" and the man virtually ran from the room "Damn I should have told him to bring Carter some, it can wait until she returns" he scanned the cots, "I see eight babies, and only six cots" he noticed

"That is because it was the trace left by the beam that deposited the last two babies that we managed to trace and recover you and Colonel Carter"

"So you didn't end up with eight turning up together?" He looked around, and started shivering, he was barefoot and only dressed in a pair of cotton shorts after all, he sat on the chair Daniel had slept on and raised his feet from the cold surface a little.

Hank, with occasional additions from the rest of the assembly filled Jack in on what had happened from Daniels visit to his office, to Jack appearing in the room, they were just about at the DNA proof when Balinsky returned with a uniform and a pair of socks and some boots. "I'm afraid the boots are new, sir" he said, Jack grimaced, like any solider he hated breaking in new combat boots. He dressed while the tale continued, and kept looking around at the children.

"So, the kids definitely belong to Sam and I, and who is responsible for all of this Thor? If you say Loki I will personally wring his neck! It's bad enough with a 17 year old ME running around out there, alone and unsupervised, what the hell am I supposed to do with eight kids?"

"Set up a hockey team" came the answer from SG13 and Daniel "You even have 2 subs" Daniel added, Jack grinned at them all

"The kids are healthy I take it?" He looked at Carolyn and glanced at the other white coat

"As far as we can tell sir, they are in perfect health, two of the boys developed slight jaundice but…"

"UV sort them out?" he saw her nod, he had been though jaundice with Charlie when he was a baby. "What are they by the way? You mentioned a boy and girl were the first two…"

"Four of each Jack, congratulations!" Daniel was thrilled now Jack was back, he knew, more than anyone, the deep longing Jack had for more children. He also understood that the older man would be terrified of losing them as he had his other son, added to the fact that he was now over 50 years old!

Jack put both his hands in his pockets and started swaying slightly, a sign to Daniel that he was thinking of something. "Any word yet Thor?" he asked. And was disappointed to hear there wasn't.

"So," he went from one cot to the other, examining the bracelets on each wrist "male baby 3? What kind of name is THAT?" He looked back at the small alien again "You never did say if it was Loki"

"It was not O'Neill, Loki is still under restraint on Orilla, I personally saw him before departing"

"I don't know if I am relieved or not, if he was missing at least we would know who it was. T not back yet?"

"No he is still on Dakara" Daniel said

"Thor ask Heimdall what is taking so long, you raised me from the dead quicker than this" Jack was actually very very worried about Sam, he would come to terms with the children later, he needed HER right now. "How long were we missing?"

"Dr. Jackson noticed the day before yesterday, and by your attire I would say no more than 12 hours before that"

"Anyone thought to tell the president I'M back?"

"Oh Crap Jack! I forgot!" Landry rushed over to the phone hung on the wall and told the switchboard to put him through. The connection was slower, with it not being direct, but as soon as he told the person who answered who he was he was put through "Mr President, I have someone here who you want to talk to" he offered Jack the phone.


	5. Chapter 5

**5 **

Thor moved his hand and Henry Hayes appeared in the room, he had evidently been leaning on his desk when Thor transported him, he almost fell over. "Hank, tell the secret service men having a heart attack where I am" the president said looking around at everyone in the room SG13 were at attention, as was the paediatrician and one of the nurses, Hank was half way there but talking into the phone and Jack removed a hand from his trouser pocket and shook the one the President held out to him.

"Glad to have you back General" he looked again "Where is Colonel Carter?" Jacks eyes closed

"Colonel Carter is aboard my vessel" Thor answered for him "She seems to be having an adverse reaction to the drugs used to sedate her"

"How serious is it Thor?" Jack asked sticking his hand straight back into his pocket. The president had also worked out that Jack only ever did this if he was anxious or thinking and had nothing to destroy in his hands, and had let him know it when Sam had visited DC the night they got engaged, Jack had had one hand on her waist and never removed the other from his pocket all night! The president had asked him if he was going to spend the night in the Lincoln room with his hands in his pockets. Jack had grinned and said he thought he could probably find something else to do with his hands when the two of them were in bed. Sam had blushed furiously. Jack thought of that night and sighed, he wanted her here, where he could see her and hold her!

"Have you caught whoever kidnapped the General and Colonel Thor?" the president asked.

"Unfortunately not, we concentrated on liberating them first and they went to hyperdrive before we had time to track them, the ship was similar in design to ones that have been reported over several centuries, but the reports are vague and no contact has been recorded with the occupants"

"I communicated with Hermiod before arriving here, he is going to develop a shield that can be used to prevent 'beams', as O'Neill calls our transport device, taking you without warning, you will be able to turn them on and off so that you may be taken aboard our vessels, but YOU will have control, not us. We will have to appear in hologram form and ask permission in future." Jack liked the sound of that, since he and Sam had got together his one dread was being beamed away mid coitus.

"And the kids?" he nodded to the cots, the nurses were all busy now seeing to the children, the paediatrician was dealing with the newcomers, but none of them was missing a single word!

"That is up to you O'Neill, we will have to see what the shield generator is like, maybe it will be small enough to integrate into jewellery,"

"They are babies Thor, they are not going to HAVE any jewellery, or at least not for years," he seemed to think of something "Are they identicals?"

Carolyn spoke up, "not so far General, but it is still possible that the two latest are genetically identical to a pair that has already arrived"

"So they don't need identification bracelets. We will work something out"

"Thor" said the president "could you send me back to DC please in a minute, Jack" he held out his hand again to be shaken "Glad you are back, will you come straight to DC?"

"No sir, I think I'll stay here a while, my aide can cope with most stuff, I need to see to Carter and the kids for a while."

"I can provide you with a transportation stone O'Neill so you may travel to 'work' and back every day, I will place a relay in geosynchronous orbit" Jack was starting to get a bit suspicious, he knew Thor liked him, and that recently the Asgard had been helping earth with more and more technology, but a PERSONAL transport?

"That sounds peachy Thor" Jack said "But don't you think it is a bit over the top?"

"As the liaison between the Asgard and earth we feel it is appropriate that you benefit in this way, otherwise you may be tempted to stop work to look after your children" DAMN! That was EXACTLY what Jack had been thinking of doing

The president gave him a grin "Oh we won't be letting him go any time soon Thor, you can count on that, now I am ready to go if you don't…" and he was gone.

Jack spent a frantic hour worrying about Sam, the SG13 squad, for some reason, didn't leave, Carolyn went in and out with samples and things. The doctor and nurses seemed to be in awe of someone who was personal friends not only with aliens but with the POTUS too! Thor disappeared for a while to 'help' with the medical care and organise those shields.

Daniel helped '13 with the feeding, and Jack took a baby as well, but Hank soon took her back as Jack kept turning her bottle and she kept sucking air.

"Carolyn" Jack said "You not going to join the fun? There seems to be plenty to go around"

"I would rather have my teeth extracted without anaesthetic" she said

"No grand children for YOU Hank" Jack stated and watched as Daniel, Dixon, Wells, and Balinsky each held their hands out to Bosworth, who sighed and rested his baby on his lap, got out his wallet and handed the cash out.

Jack grinned "You could have let me in on the action Danny boy" he said Hank didn't know whether to be outraged or insulted or amused that there had already been a book on him.

"Careful of this lot Hank" he said, belatedly "forgot to warn you they make book on anything, including what will be on each planet they reach and who is screwing whom"

"Should I ask what the bet was this time?" Hank asked, Carolyn looked puzzled, but then she wasn't military

"I shouldn't think you want to know Hank, oh by the way… what day is it?"

"Wednesday" Jack nodded absorbing the missing time, he had had plenty of practise over the years.

"Who is holding the book on Sam and myself?" Dixon pointed at Balinsky "she said yes on Thursday evening, I proposed in the oval office" Balinskys eyes widened thinking hard.

"I think it's between Walter and Siler sir, neither said you would last a week once the Colonel was no longer in direct chain of command! I'll look it up after this little one has gone to sleep"

"How much is it now?"

"Almost five thousand sir"

"Damn I should have placed a bet myself!" he said.

"Congratulations sir" Dixon handed the baby to wells and stood to attention and saluted "and may I say, 'it's about damn time'" the rest of the older SGC members said the last bit in chorus.

Jack laughed and then quickly sobered as he remembered the other half of that arrangement was still ill.

The phone on the wall broke the silence that had fallen, making every one of the babies jump, and setting a couple off in hiccups. Hank answered

"Thank you Walter, tell him where we are" he put the phone down. "Teal'c has just arrived"

Jack nodded and waited for his friend to come through the door. Eventually he did and he clasped both Daniel and himself by the arm as greeting, nodding his thanks to Hank and raising his eyebrow in typical Teal'c fashion at '13 all sat around feeding babies. He looked back to Jack to explain.

"Meet the kids" Jack said simply


	6. Chapter 6

**6 **

Carolyn tried to get him to eat but he just had no appetite at all. Daniel tried to distract him with babble about Atlantis. Dixon tried to get him interested in the children and names, Wells joining in with the merits of biblical over traditional family names.

He was about to start screaming when he felt the solid presence of Teal'c at his shoulder "I am certain that Colonel Carter will be fine" trust the big Jaffa to bring her up, and strangely it was exactly what he needed to hear! He relaxed slightly and took a deep breath, he nodded his head, of course she was going to be fine, she had Thor and Heimdall looking after her!

He got up and paced about the room, every so often he picked something up from the trolleys scattered about, baby powder, creams, a strip thermometer, and he would play with them until he realised what he was doing, at which point he would replace them, put his hands back in his pockets and the whole thing would start again. The nurses watched him from the corner of their eyes every time he approached a baby, but he never picked one up.

He stood over the girls most, looking into those beautiful blue eyes that they all shared, seeing the woman he loved reflected in them. Sams children, he thought, they had never discussed children, hell he didn't even know how HE felt about having kids, he was over 50 for cryin' out loud! Sam was approaching 40. Though both his parents had been old when they had him, his grandparents were not even 20 when THEY started a family, and he knew which ones were better at it! It wasn't the ones with experience in life!

Then there was Charlie, was he fit to be a parent after allowing that to happen to his son? And EIGHT! It was frightening enough to contemplate babies one at a time, but eight!

Thor appeared in a beam of light, no one jumped at all this time Jack noted, strange how quick you can get used to something like that.

"O'Neill," his small friend called, he squatted down in front of him so he would not have to look up

"Here buddy, tell me you have good news about Sam" he was almost breathless, he filled his lungs deliberately.

"We have identified the substance that is having an effect on Colonel Carter and have found a way to neutralise it, we are confidant that she will recover," He let it out explosively "We hope to return her to you within the day" His heart beat painfully in his chest and he almost felt faint with relief.

"Thank you!" he said with feeling and stood up. He beamed about the room at everyone "She's going to be OK" he said, as if they had not been able to hear Thor. SG13 spoke their congratulations, Hank hook his hand, Daniel pulled him into a hug and so did Teal'c!! The nurses smiled back at him, the two doctors were missing at that moment, having gone to check on some results of tests on the children.

Carolyn came back into the room wheeling a UV array, and set it up over one of the cots, "Jaundice again?" Jack asked her she nodded

"Male baby 1 seems to develop it every time we stop the UV treatment for more than a couple of hours. Male baby 2 has only had that first bout and the treatment seems to have cured him in record time 3 and 4 have shown no sign, and none of the girls have either"

"We have to start thinking of names" Daniel said "otherwise Sam will come up with a binary code to extrapolate which is whom" he grinned at Jack and Teal'c reminding them of a discussion about planet names years and years ago.

"I am not doing anything until Sam gets here" Jack said firmly

"I disagree General" Carolyn told him "You are going to go and have something to eat, you have not had anything since your returned, and we do not know if you were fed while you were missing" she glared at him "it is lunch time now, why don't all SG13 and you" she waved her hand at Teal'c and Daniel "go to the commissary and eat something while the babies are asleep"

Jack opened his mouth to object and she put a finger to her lips telling him to be quiet "I will be within my rights to order you to eat. I will not have you passing out from low blood sugar and I AM willing to knock you out and connect you to an IV" she threatened.

Jack looked at her astonished "You remember who gave you this job?" he asked

"Yes" she replied "bet you are glad you did now, now LEAVE!" she pointed at the door and all the active SGC members filed out, leaving Jack and Teal'c still in the room with her. He opened his mouth to argue when Teal'c stopped him

"Colonel Carter will not be pleased if she is returned and you are strapped to a bed O'Neill" he said. Jack thought about it and nodded his head, he knew better than to argue with Teal'c.

They left and headed for the stairs as it was only one flight, Jack tried to use stairs nowadays as he was not in the field staying fit. His legendary bad knees had been healed by Kanan, and it was the only positive benefit he could see from the whole affair. As they descended the level to the commissary, they talked of the problems of the new Jaffa nation, but nothing too deep, Jack knew that Teal'c knew that he was not concentrating, and was grateful to his usually stoic friend for his support.

As they got within sight of the doors, they could hear SG3 ribbing '13 about their new job, phrases like 'not good for anything more dangerous' floated into the corridor, Jack burst in, at last he could take his anger out on someone!

"TEN HUT" he shouted and all but one person jumped to their feet, that being Daniel of course.

Reynolds was the main focus of Jacks gaze "Do we have a problem, marines?" he asked

"Sir! No Sir!" was the reply, the rest of the people relaxed a bit as they realised that Jack was not interested in them, he waved at the room

"At ease" he said, but as SG3 started to sit down "Not you lot!" he snapped and they straightened up again.

"I would like to know why you think guarding my children is a job that I would give to just anyone" Jack said to the group

"Sir, we meant no disrespect!" Reynolds said looking about 2 inches above Jacks right shoulder

"I always liked you, Reynolds, for a jar head you seemed to be almost human" Jack looked at the rest of SG3 "that does not necessarily include your team though" his gaze locked on each one in turn, until he felt his message had been delivered personally, and not just as an order from above. "I can always ask Hank to put you on babysitting scientists on long term missions"

"Sir, yes sir!" the chorus came

"I don't want to hear another word about the duty I have assigned SG13. And if even a rumour reached my ears that you have been shooting your mouths off again you will each be scrubbing toilets with toothbrushes every time you are on world, am I understood marines?"

"Sir! Yes SIR!" came the reply.

"Dismissed" he said and turned his back on them. Daniel had already filled him a tray of food and placed it on SG1s usual table, and the only sound in the room as he sat down was SG3 leaving.

"As you were kids" he said waving his arm in the air and grabbing a tuna sandwich. He noticed the paediatrician in the corner with one of the nurses, and gave him a nod, and then Walter came through the door with a clipboard.

"Walter! Good to see you" there was no saluting there, even though Harriman was only a noncom

"Sir, good to see you too, congratulations on the children, and this is a list of forms you need to sign" he put it on the edge of the table, carefully avoiding invading the space Sam usually used. "This, is a summary from your office of things they need you to look at" another piece of paper, "this is the requisition form for the boots and BDU set you are wearing, this is…"

"Walter I am eating my lunch"

"Yes sir, but if you leave here I will not be able to get you to sign anything" Jack gave him a wry glance and conceded he was probably right

"Sort em" he said and within a minute the papers were in two piles, one stacked so that he could sign the bottom of each page, the other things he would take with him when he went back to the nursery to read.

Walter tidied up the pile and slipped it back onto the board and headed for the door

"Walter…" Jack said

"In her old quarters sir" The answer came

"and…"

"Not yet sir"

"Let…"

"Soon as we know sir"

"Walter…"

"Yes sir, don't mention it" and he walked out

Daniel and Teal'c just ignored the whole thing, the doctor looked puzzled to hell and SG13 were laughing, Hank walked in and swept his gaze around the room

"Walter been reading minds again has he?" he asked, Jack nodded and started eating a slice of chocolate cake, someone must have warned the cook he was on base, this was his favourite dessert!


	7. Chapter 7

**7 **

Jack and his team-mates went back to the nursery, there did not seem to be any point in being anywhere else, Teal'c was on Earth just to support his friends and Daniel had wrapped up all his outstanding tasks, ready to depart on the Daedalus. Jack could not even go and sit in Sams lab and pretend she had just stepped out, as she had left the SGC at the start of the previous week and the Lab was not hers any more (he had a feeling Felger would be in residence).

He sat in the chair in the corner farthest from the door, so he could see the full room at a glance, and tried to read the reports Walter had left him. After trying for twenty minutes to read the first sentence on the first page he gave up and opened his phone. He spoke to his aide for a while and then asked to be put through to General Maynard and gave him some 'advice' on deploying the 304s as they came off the production line, Jack was trying to be fair and give the up coming Russian ship decent missions, rather than consigning them to doing the nasty jobs.

Jack told he would talk to the person in charge of the building of the Russian vessel about something. The design was fluid, as the Asgard kept giving them new presents that they were fitting in as they went. This ship was to have its furniture in Russian so would be set out slightly different, the keyboards and signs etc, and a pretty young woman, called Sasha Ivanova had been assigned to work with the American team that had been in charge of the Daedalus and was now working on the Odyssey. She had an evil sense of humour and Jack loved working with her, even if she was Russian!

The Russian ship would be more advanced than either of the American ones when it was launched, and the tech would play leapfrog as things became available and the ships went in for refit. Jack got in touch with Sasha and gave her some contacts in the production dept. that she would need to contact due to a mix up in translation.

The people in the room listened astonished as the whole conversation was conducted in fluent Russian! Jack grinned at Daniel the whole time he was talking.

As soon as he put the phone down though the grin disappeared as well, and Jack felt tired, he did not want to be working! He wanted to be with Sam!

He no sooner finished the papers in front of him than Walter came through the door, he swept in, took the papers, gave a 'sir' into the air and left again, the doctor once again looked astonished at his behaviour.

By this time it was almost 14:00 and during the feed and change of the babies the paediatrician noticed that 'male baby 4' was looking slightly yellow, he moved the UV light that had been on his brother across, Jack hovered over the cot but did not pick the child up.

Carolyn came in not long after the children were put down again and recommended that Jack go lay down, he refused. She insisted, he sat stubborn in the chair and stopped answering her. She pleaded with him, she threatened him with big needles! It was only when her Father told Jack he had presidential permission to order him sedated if necessary, and Carolyn pulled a loaded syringe out of her pocket that he said he would lay down… but not for more than an hour as he did not want to throw his body clock off.

Just over five hours later he stormed down the corridors shouting at everyone for not waking him! He got to the nursery door and quieted, no one wanted to wake the children after all. He had no sooner arrived than a flash of light appeared and Thor was there. He was alone.

"Apologies O'Neill" his friend said "We have encountered something that we would like clarifying."

"Shoot buddy" Jack said, to which the Asgard tilted his head and started to open his mouth "I mean what was the question… 'shoot' is just a saying" Thor inclined his head

"We wish to speak to the medic in charge of Colonel Carters well being" Carolyn stood forward.

"That would be me, but I am afraid I have only seen her a couple of times" Thor nodded at her.

"Could you state, with any certainty if Colonel Carter has both her ovaries?" he asked, the whole room looked shocked at the question.

Carolyn said "I believe she does, but if you will excuse me I will go check" she walked out of the room without waiting for permission and was back in less than 2 minutes "Her last full body scan…erm… 7 weeks ago… showed both ovaries." She looked at the little man

"I regret to inform you, O'Neill, that she has none now" he hung his head. Jack felt himself fill with tears. Even if Sam wanted to experience childbirth now, she could not do it naturally. Not even the presence of their eight children could compensate for his sympathetic feeling of loss for Sam.

"I would like you to accompany me back to the Samantha Carter O'Neill." Jack nodded, numb.

"I doubt I will sleep tonight anyway Thor, so go ahead!" And they both vanished into the light.

He sat beside the medical pod most of the night, only occasionally one Asgard or another would walk in and do something, or even ask to be allowed to perform some tests on him, and the result was that they found he had both his testes.

But even when he was talking to them, or being tested his eyes never left her face. She looked so damn young! And so beautiful his heart ached! It was not fair, but then, when had life ever been fair to either of them? He imagined what Jacob would have said if he had been presented with eight grand children, and gave a lop sided smile.

He would have to let George know, as Sams honorary 'Uncle' he would be delighted, always assuming everything was alright with mother and children. He day-dreamed a little, planned a little and even prayed a little, Hell he would have sacrificed a goat if it meant he could have everyone well and happy.

The small people tried to give him privacy, they offered him food, but he remembered what Sam had said about 'yellow squares' and he passed… and so did the night.

He glanced at his watch when the lights brightened slightly, 08:00, had he remembered to set it at the SGC or was it still showing DC time? He couldn't remember, and to be totally honest with himself he didn't really care.

The see through top portion of the medical pos made a slight sound and slid away, he looked around but no one was in sight, he pressed the back of his hand against her cheek, she felt fine, not hot, not cold, he was just about to leave the room to call someone when the door slid open and Heimdall entered.

"She ok now?" he asked before the medic had a chance to get close

"If you will allow me?" the pod sank closer to the floor, so it was at chest level for the Asgard, and he pressed a few controls that had been hidden by a panel.

"She should waken soon" the second the words were out of his mouth Jack saw her eyes flutter slightly and then she was with him!

"Hey" he said softly

She smiled her beautiful beaming smile at him, and said "hey"

"Whatcha doin'" he drawled at her

"Not a lot, sir" she answered

"Sir?" he repeated cocking his head

"General?" she looked puzzled and Jack looked sharply at the medic

"What is wrong with her?" he asked

"I am…unsure" was the reply

"Well obviously something has gone wrong" he said his temper and the volume of his voice rising simultaneously

Sam propped herself up and waved her hand out of the pod "Excuse me… right here" she said clearly annoyed. If she had lost her memory of THEM, how the hell was he supposed to explain eight kids?

A tube appeared by the pod and the nimble physician scooped it up and pressed it to Sams neck before she could react, she sank back, not quiet laying down, her eyes closed and she was unconscious again. Jack reached in and gently straightened her out so she would not wake with a stiff neck, she was as light as a feather and he thought she had lost weight.

Jack shouted "Thor!" and the door opened again to admit him, "What the hell is happening?

She does not seem to remember recent events"

"How recent?" Thor asked.

"She called me Sir." He said to which Thor looked puzzled

"Colonel Carter has always addressed you so, unless she has used your actual military title"

"We got engaged last week! She calls me Jack now" actually he remembered a couple of times when she had screamed 'Colonel' at him since they started being a couple but that was private.

The liquid sound of the language of the Asgard rolled around the room as Thor consulted with both the computer and his colleague. "O'Neill, please do not worry, this is a side effect of the compound we administered to counteract the sedative, it will soon flush out of her system" He damn well hoped they were right!

It was 20 minutes before she regained consciousness, 20 long, worrying, minutes. She gave a slight cough and, as before, her eyelids took their time uncovering the cornflower blue orbs. She smiled up and it again, but then said "Jack" with immense satisfaction in her voice.

"Here love, I'm here" his eyes filled with tears and a couple escaped to run down his face before he could control himself, he stroked her face with the back of his fingers, and continued down the line of her jaw until he reached the hollow of her throat. She looked up at him from under half closed lids and in a low purr said

"Do we REALLY want to do this here?" She was back! Though in the past she had been known to call him Jack on occasion, she would never have said that until the past week or so.

"O'Neill, is it your wish to return to the 'nursery' now or have you another destination in mind?"

"Nursery?" Sam enquired, she took a few seconds while he was busy trying to think of what to say and then said "You don't mean…"

He grinned and nodded and she went pale! "Laira" she said under her breath Laira? The woman from Edora? Oh god NO!

"NO!" he almost screamed "The children are ours love"

"I'm sure I would remember having children Jack" she snapped

"Colonel Carter" Thors quiet calm voice stopped her before she worked herself up any more, "O'Neill is telling you the truth, several days ago, both of you, were abducted and children were transported to the SGC infirmary, subsequent tests done by Earth and ourselves confirm you are the biological parents" He spoke into the air in his own language and a flat holographic display showed basically the same things to the couple that Carolyn had displayed to everyone else earlier in the week. Jack noticed he only used the profiles of the two of the babies.

Sam levered herself out of the medical bed and he held her as she got to her feet, in fact he grabbed her and hugged her and it felt so good he just did not want to let go! "Jack…" she pushed on his shoulder with one hand he tightened his grip and noticed he was shaking slightly "Jack…" her voice rose a notch but he just could not let go now he had her

"O'Neill!" he buried his face in her neck, breathing in her scent, every muscle in his body trembling. He felt a cool touch to his arm and suddenly he could relax, in fact he relaxed so much Sam had to support him! They had slipped him a Mickey! He slumped and was guided onto the bed Sam had recently vacated. He saw the Asgard couple move around and Sam, beautiful Sam, HIS beautiful Sam, was holding his hand and smoothing the other palm across his face. The room went black.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

He came to less than an hour later and apologised to both Thor and Sam. He had no idea what had happened to him, but Heimdall, in the corner at a control panel thing, stated it had been a form of hysteric shock, like HE was one to have hysterics!

He jumped off the bed and grabbed Sam, swinging her around until he made them both dizzy. "We have kids!" he said

"We do!" she was less enthusiastic and he remembered they had never discussed the subject. He knew her career meant a hell of a lot to her, he couldn't blame her, she was headed for the very top… hell the country could do worse than have her as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs!

"We need to talk" he said and looked around for a chair or two to use.

"I believe it would be advisable for you to return to Earth O'Neill" Thor said, Jack looked at him until he continued "We do not have human food here and you are both in need of sustenance" Come to think of it, he was ravenous!

"Can you put us into the commissary Thor?" he asked and then had to point the room out on a 3D hologram of the base. Thor scanned the room, and they heard the beam starting up. "be seeing you!" Jack managed to say before he was gone.

They ignored everyone in the room, even the SFs who jumped to their feet and almost drew their sidearms on them, with a look at each other Sam went to get a couple of trays and started filling them, he went to the phone and told Walter he was back, it was the fastest way to disseminate the information. He then joined Sam and they were putting things on each others tray as they moved down the line, as they had done for years before.

The sergeant behind the display moved forward, a bowl of blue jello and a piece of chocolate cake in his hands and he filled the last gaps on their trays with a smile. "Good to have you back Sir, Ma'am" he said. They both gave him a smile and their profound thanks.

They turned to their usual table and before they had even unwrapped their sandwiches, Daniel, Teal'c and Hank Landry entered the room. Daniel and Teal'c got their own trays and Hank headed straight for the table. Sam got to her feet to salute and he waved her to stop. "I know this is a military base" he said "but I cannot have my bosses boss saluting me" Jack grinned at him and Sam looked puzzled. "Congratulations on your engagement" he clarified.

"I thought we weren't going to tell everyone yet?" she looked at her fiancé.

"I know but we were missing, then you were ill and the president arrived, and…"

"He decided to close the running book on you both" 'gee thanks Hank' Jack thought and closed his eyes, and sighed, waiting for it.

"BOOK?!" she exclaimed "there was a BOOK?" Hank looked at her, surprised

"Of course there was a book, this is a military base" he said reasonably and Jack watched her start to smile a little

"Who won?"

"Last I heard it was either Siler or Walter, and the pot was almost 5k" Jack wasn't sure which man he wanted to win as he liked both of them enormously Hank clarified

"Both made guesses half a day out, so they split it down the middle" he said, it couldn't have worked out better Jack thought. Sam smiled wider, he knew she liked both men too, she had worked closely with them both since the programme restarted, and maybe even before that!

The two other members of SG1 sat down with their breakfasts, Daniel had a whole carafe of coffee on his tray and Teal'c's, of course, looked like Carmen Miranda's hat!

Jack was dying to ask how the kids were but he didn't want the news of how many they had to be broken to Sam in this very public place, everyone was watching their table as it was.

"I'm going to take half and hour or so and fill Sam in on everything that has happened as soon as we finish breakfast" he informed everyone at the table "Could you as Carolyn to supply that demonstration you were telling me about for later? Thor had one similar but I think Sam could use some time to study it"

"Who is Carolyn?" she asked

"The new CMO, Carolyn Lam, she's a brilliant doctor, you will like her" Actually Jack had only met her once before all this kicked off and that was at the job interview, however she had GREAT references! Daniel and Teal'c did not look so sure and Hank looked downright apprehensive.

They finished up and Jack guided her to her old room, it was only when she got there she realised she had had breakfast in the commissary in her shortie pyjamas with a teddy on the front that Cassie had bought her. He grinned at her as she groaned and hit him lightly on the arm

"Why didn't you remind me!" she asked

"You look cute in them" he said, knowing he was on thin ice, she hated the word cute, never mind being called it!

She thumped him lightly again and started to change into the BDU that Walter had had delivered to the room the day before. He watched her start to dress and couldn't help himself! He crept up behind her when all she had on was her knickers and started to fondle her, she straightened up, moaning and giving him full access, her head fell back onto his shoulder… the talk could wait!

They lay side by side on the single bed, sated, and Jack was explaining the chronology of events to her

"Wait, we have FOUR children?" she asked

"Be patient woman!" He said, he continued

"Six" she whispered when he got to the arrival of the next two. "Oh god EIGHT!" her voice was totally hoarse but she still seemed to be shouting in a whisper, if that could be said to make sense. He grinned at her and assured her that there were no more, as yet anyway, and continued on through their recovery, an her subsequent illness, Thors offer of tech, the transporter And the anti-transport shields.

He got to the end and lay drawing patterns on her flat stomach with his index finger while allowing her to fully absorb all the information.

"Eight" she kept saying, "eight" he decided that she needed to see them if she was going to believe it, but first he needed to talk about a couple of things.

"I know we never discussed having children Sam, but we have no choice here, these are ours, they are US!" he looked straight into her eyes willing her to read his love for her and their children. He had been trying not to get too close to them, avoiding touching them if possible, but he had always loved kids, and the fact that these were half made from the most perfect woman in the universe would have made him love them even if he had not been the father. He was quite willing to stay home and look after them himself, after all they could do without him around here, but not without her!

He had no idea how to break the news of her ovaries, he was not a coward but he did not want to see the eyes he loved so much filled with the pain the news would cause.

"I love you Jack" she said to him, running her hand down his chest "and I was always hoping we would have children some day, but it seemed that it may not happen, and I am not getting any younger" he snorted at that, she poked him in the abdomen "Men can father kids into their nineties at least, it doesn't hold the same for women" she had a point there.

"I doubt I would have managed or even wanted eight children, but there's no way in hell am I going to reject them, they are YOURS, OURS… let's get dressed and you can introduce me, and we can start on some names… what do you think of Jacob?" she grinned at him

"Perfect" he said, "'Male baby 1' will be Jacob" he said

"No" she corrected "'Male baby 1' will be Jonathan named after the best of the best"

They arrived in the nursery and SG13 were in their usual places, each feeding, changing or winding a child, Daniel was with another, and Teal'c had somehow managed to get a child in each arm and was managing to feed both of them at the same time! The other baby was being held by a nurse. Jack lifted that one, looked at the name band and passed him over to his mother. "Jacob, meet mom" he said

Everyone looked up at the use of a name. Jack looked around and spotted that one of the babies Teal'c was holding had a darker pigment with a lighter strip where his eyes had been covered to protect them during the UV treatment, and picked him up "and Jonathan, you can meet mom too" he looked around "more names soon, as we decide on them" he said and crouched beside the chair his love was in while she held her two 'eldest' sons, he soon removed Jacob to his own arms and got Sam the bottle as he had interrupted Jonathans dinner. She took to it as if she had been doing it all her life! Once the children were put down for their naps the SGC members started discussing names, Jack wanted their eldest daughter to be named after his grandmother, a woman who epitomised her very name and Sam with eyes full of tears agreed.

"Grace!" she said.

One of the nurses was writing on the whiteboard that used to be used to track the meds of the patients held in the room. She filled in the names as they were agreed.

A couple of hours, and some heated discussion later, and the children all had their titles.

"Jonathan, Jacob, George, and Richard. Grace, Danielle, Janet, and Tilda" Tilda was Daniels suggestion, it was close to Teal'c name, which Sam wanted and meant 'powerful warrior'

Sam was looking pale by this time and Jonathan was looking yellow again. So Carolyn ordered a bed brought into the room and placed against the corner Jack had been sitting in earlier, and told Sam she had to rest, and wrapped the cloth around Jonathans eyes again and turned on the light. Jack took turns cuddling each child, and talking softly to Sam until she went to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**9 **

Siler entered the room and nodded to everyone, he went to the phone on the wall, he fiddled with it for a while, placing a box beside it attached to the wall. He then picked up the receiver, said "Try now" and replaced it, the new box flashed in a regular fashion and he picked up the receiver "Perfect" he said and put it down again.

He pointed to his new addition and said "That won't wake them if someone needs to contact you" and he left the room before anyone could thank him.

Walter appeared and walked straight up to Jack "Joint chiefs communiqué, came while you were on Thors ship this morning, Russian liaison, someone signing herself 'Sasha' faxed this over, the Tok'ra have sent a message of congratulations over the birth of your children, we didn't give them details, they only know because we asked them if they knew where you were when you were missing. Anise requests permission to examine them as 'progeny of an ex-host'" Walter nodded as Jack opened his mouth "Yes, sir, I already told her there wasn't a chance in hell but she asked that the Colonel be told. I have asked General Landry to be available when they next contact us, he will be slightly more diplomatic than yourself, if you forgive me for saying so, sir" he held up the last piece of paper "and this came through your office, to remind you that you were supposed to be meeting with an agent to put your house in the Springs up for sale."

Jack looked around and agreed, even if he was moving back, he needed a bigger house. It was a shame, because he loved his old house, and he loved it's location even more.

He read the message from Sasha and went to the phone, a quick word with her seemed to be all that was needed, he glanced at the message from the Join Chiefs and with a blank expression he put it to the bottom of the pile. He handed the papers back to Walter and said thanks, and got out his phone, opened it and realised it was a replacement, it did not have the number he needed in it. He looked up and Walter was pointing to the bottom of the sheet, the telephone number of the estate agent was there. He grinned, Walter had become so like 'Radar' from the series MASH it was almost a cliché.

He stepped into the corridor while he had a word about what he was looking for in a new property and returned just as Thor beamed back in.

"O'Neill!" the alien said sharply Jack approached him "The ship we believe to be responsible for your abduction and the children appeared between the fourth planet and the asteroid belt in your system 15 of your minutes ago, we projected a dampening field around the mountain until they disappeared again, we are not sure if they were trying to take you again, but they did not try to transport anything, or anyone down. I have asked Hermiod to hurry production of the personal shields, he wishes a meeting between yourself, Colonel Carter and him as he needs some information."

Jack looked down at Sam, still sleeping, and still pale, "It will have to wait a while, Sam isn't feeling very well. I know it is a lot to ask, but can you continue to monitor the situation and shield us if they come back once more?"

"We fully intend to protect you O'Neill, and your offspring and mate as well" Jack did not know how he'd become so lucky as to earn this level of friendship from these particular aliens but he was very glad he had.

Two hours later Sam woke up for a bathroom break, Jack told her about Hermiods request and she agreed that the meeting should take place sooner rather than later, especially as he then told her that the people who had caused this may not yet be finished. She looked at her children and a determined look stole across her face, he knew she would not rest now until she was certain the kids were safe!

She spent an hour holding the babies in turn, and then Jack used the contact stone Thor had given him and they were in the engine room of the Daedalus with Lt Novak and the Asgard engineer.

Sam and the two 'boffins' spoke for a long time, Jack was lost after the first sentence. Diagrams and holograms, sketches and schematics, and in the end they were transported back to Earth, with him no wiser, and as far as he could see without a shield either.

Sam explained once they were with their friends again.

"The shield control will be small, when WE use it, but compared to the babies sizes they are just going to be impractical, as it is unlikely we will be splitting the children up at any time Hermiod is working on a way of making a joint shield for them so each baby can 'carry' a part of the equipment"

"Babies don't carry things Sam" Jack pointed out "and anything they wear needs to be water proof, resistant to mild acid, and chew proof, because it WILL get chewed if they can get hold of it!"

"Not if we place it under their skin" she said. Jack immediately hated the idea, what if something went wrong? A short circuit?

She tried to convince him but he was not having it, no way were they cutting into HIS children and filling them with technology!

Sam stopped arguing after a while, but he kept ranting until Daniel pointed out how tired she looked and he was immediately solicitous of her health. He led her to the bed and made her lay down.

Carolyn came in shortly afterwards and gave her an injection. She was asleep seconds after it hit her system. The doctor looked at Jack. "The Colonels test results are back, and there is something wrong with the blood-work, but the lab does not know what." Jack contacted Thor again and Heimdall beamed into the room, a quick discussion between the two physicians and Carolyn handed over a vial of blood and the Asgard left again. "you need to sleep too, sir" she said. Jack waved his hand in her direction

"I will" he said, he had no intention of leaving the room, other than calls of nature, and before he knew it he had been stabbed in the arm as well and was falling to the ground.


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

He woke feeling as if something furry had died in his mouth, he recognised the symptoms of the after effects of being sedated straight away, after all he had had a LOT of practise to get to know what it felt like the morning after.

He was in the bed in Sams quarters, a fresh BDU by the side of the bed on a chair, along with fresh underwear and his boots.

He got up and had a shower, he had to admit he felt more human than he had been doing ever since he 'got back'. He had to use her shower gels and the smell of her in his nostrils meant he had to take care of a morning problem manually rather than willing it away, he hoped that the PX had his usual brands in, otherwise he was going to be walking around all the time he was on base aroused. He exited the bathroom covered in only a towel to find Walter dropping off toiletries for him, they WERE all his usual brands, fragrance free soap, shower gel and shampoo. Walter noticed that he had been showered already and apologised for his tardiness, Jack laughed at the thought of Walter being accused of being late and thanked him for his care.

He debated the time it would take him to shower again but when he raised the towel to his hair and his body reacted to the scent on it, he decided the time would be well spent and returned to the small room.

By the time he got to the nursery there was a breakfast tray waiting for him, and one for Sam that was untouched on the over-bed table. He noticed a bench had been set up under the phone with a coffee machine on it and the whole of SG13 were holding mugs of the strong black liquid.

Jack called for Dr. Lam and warned her that if she ever sedated him again, unless it was a medical necessity he would have her before the board. He then thanked her for his good nights sleep. She smiled at him and said she was just following orders and when he asked who issued them she pulled out a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and gave him it. It was a letter addressed 'to whom it may concern' and it was from Janet!

She had listed all his bad habits when ill, playing with the sterile tray, shouting at the nurses, refusing to have his temperature taken or his pupils checked, and told her successor that the ONLY way to deal with him was to knock him out and not allow him to wake unto he was fit to go home. He was almost sure she had not meant every word to be taken 100 at face value… but it was Janet.

He smiled as he read the letter, he could hear her voice as he read it, the tone she always used when she was explaining for the 50th time why he was not fit to go home yet… he passed the note to Daniel, then to Teal'c and then to Sam, he raised his mug and said "To Janet" everyone joined the toast.

A beam of light and Thor was in the room again, at his side was a box, about a foot cubed, he explained that it was a shield generator, big enough to cover the whole complex. It would save a problem if anything happened to his ship, say if it had to leave orbit suddenly.

He recommended that it not be stored in with the babies, as it had a powerful electrical field and Sam had mentioned that it could be detrimental to their health when helping design the portable ones with Hermiod.

Teal'c lifted the box without apparent effort and sent Wells to the phone to call for Siler.

Thor followed them out so he could explain how it worked and what the controls did. Sam followed them, slowly. Jack watched her go, worried, usually she would have been bouncing with happiness to get hold of a new toy, she hardly seemed to have the energy to walk out the door.

He decided to follow her and when they got to the lift he let the others travel to 18, Siler suggested the room next to Daniels lab, it being directly above the nursery, and only 35 feet away in a direct line. He stopped her following them and took her to her quarters. There he made her strip and have a shower, and he helped her dress again, only her trousers and t shirt though he left the jacket hung up. Though he had his usual reaction to the sight of her naked, she looked so very tired he did not try to initiate anything. He guided her to the bed and tried to press her into laying down but she resisted until he agreed to take her to the nursery.

Once there she lay on the bed, and he slipped in behind her next to the wall. He held her tight, spooned to her, until she fell asleep again.

He woke himself to see Carolyn and the paediatrician discussing blood results and another UV was hovering over another cot. Danielle this time, this was the first time any of the girls had shown symptoms of any kind.

Jack was really starting to worry, but Carolyn assured him that it was nothing to worry about as yet, the babies livers just needed time to start functioning properly, and unless it did not clear fully by the end of a fortnight then there was no danger.

The paediatrician stepped up at that point "Actually Dr. Lam we MAY have a problem" He looked at Jack as if trying to decide if he could cope with the news. "The children are showing that they are developed to the point of one month of age, this means that the jaundice could already be serious"

"Show me your evidence!" she snapped and they walked off to the far side of the room, where he had been keeping himself ever since witnessing Jack having a go at the marines.

After watching her examine each baby he saw her nod to the colleague and she came towards the bed he was sat on the bottom of it, just below Sams feet.

"How much do you know about jaundice, sir?" she asked, Jack noticed that Sam stiffened as Carolyn spoke, he nudged her and told her to wake up… she didn't move.

He got to his feet and went to the head of the bed and shook her, her eyes remain tightly closed. He suspected she was just pretending to be asleep so she could listen but not have to be subject to scrutiny when she reacted.

"Sam, you need to hear this love," he said in a low voice, she still got embarrassed about him showing her affection in a military setting. He shook her shoulder again, and she rolled onto her back, her eyes were rolled back in her head and her mouth hung open, Carolyn pushed him out of the way roughly and shouted for one of the nurses to help, they took the brakes off the bed and pushing past the SG13 members and the rest of SG1 they took Sam into the infirmary proper. Jack followed, all thoughts of jaundice removed from his head!

Sam had slipped into a coma.

The babies were getting worse and Jack still didn't understand why it was dangerous.

The paediatrician waited until he was sat holding one of the healthy children on his lap and then attempted to explain.

"There is a substance called bilirubin" he started "it is naturally produced by your body as red blood cells break down, as they die ready to be replaced. Your liver takes away any excess bilirubin in the system and sends it as waste to be excreted." Jack nodded, he was following so far. "When babies are born they have been relying on their mothers for more than a safe haven, through the umbilical cord the blood is filtered and cleaned and so their livers have not really started working when they come out, same as their lungs."

"However, unlike the lungs, the liver can take a few days, a week even, to begin to filter the blood correctly, and the build up of bilirubin is what gives the body that yellow colour" Jack nodded again. For a doctor and a scientist this man was excellent at explaining, though that could be because of his usual clientele, it cannot be easy talking to people whose children were ill, Jack knew that when Charlie died he didn't understand one word in three, and yet it was not complicated.

"If the liver does not start to work correctly, or the red blood cells die too often and bilirubin builds to too high a level it can be dangerous" Jack knew that the liver was one organ you could not live without. "High levels of bilirubin may cause deafness, or cerebral palsy, or even brain damage"

Brain damage! "How about the kids? How high is the levels in them?" he asked

"The danger is at around 20 micromoles per litre , though the lower the better, anything between 2 μmol/L-14 μmol/L is within 'normal' range, under 14 is recommended, at the moment Jonathan is worst off, he is at 18 μmol/L . If it increases another point I am going to have to recommend a full blood replacement!"


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

What should he do? Sam was in a coma and she was the one he counted on to save the day! What should he do? The doctor had just told him his children were at risk from brain damage or cerebral palsy unless their bodies started to cleanse their systems of Billy Rubin (Jack was sure that was a character from silence of the lambs!) A full blood transfusion! _What should he do?_ The thought of his children being drained of blood, for whatever reason made him cold… He remembered the blood all over Charlie's room and as it drained from him on the way to the hospital… his hands had been covered in it, and for weeks he could still feel it on him, no matter how hard he washed. Teal'c hand on his shoulder brought him out of the blue funk he was working himself towards, and the sympathetic gaze of the large man helped him ground himself again.

He had contacted Thor who asked for certain tests to be re run and samples had been taken from Sam and the kids again, but the Asgard did not seem to be any wiser than their own doctors, Jack was quickly sinking into despair and he could feel Daniel watching him, more than anyone the younger man knew the depths Jack could sink to, after all it was only at the last minute that Daniel had persuaded him not to commit suicide.

The muted tones of Walters voice came down the corridor and the red light in the hallway could be seen to be flashing through the slightly open door. The phone flashed, Dave Dixon got up and answered it and Jack saw him stiffen slightly before agreeing to something.

He turned and approached. "Sir, Anise has just arrived via the alpha site" Jack jumped to his feet and Dixon held out his hands "Sir, she may be able to use the hand device Colonel Carter had locked in her lab to help her!"

Jack thought about it for a moment and then slapped him on the shoulder "Good thinking Dixon, sorry, I just reacted after what she asked yesterday" He turned to Bosworth and said "Go to Carters old lab, find out if the healing thing is still locked up there and if it isn't find out where it is!"

The man jumped out of his chair and was about to run off when he realised he still had Grace in his arms, Jack held his out and took his daughter from him, freeing him to leave.

Anise arrived first but, on his orders, she was held in the main infirmary next to Sams bed eventually Bosworth arrived with Jay Felger hovering around him. Jack glared at the scientist but he was, as usual, totally oblivious. Jack told him he was dismissed, then ordered him bluntly to leave, and then shouted at him! The thick-skinned clever-moron got the idea at last and left, just as Teal'c strode into the room to see what Jack was shouting about. Anise looked from Sam to Jack to the doctor to Teal'c

"I have come to study the child" she said, damn but the snake was arrogant.

"What part of 'NO' did you fail to understand?" Jack asked, after all, though they may be able to use her, she had been told that she should not come.

"I believe that Selmak and Jacob Carter would wish for his grandchild to be of help to both our people" GOD! she was playing the Jacob card now he was no longer there to tell her to go to hell. Jack almost laughed aloud.

"I think it is more likely that he would ask you to help his daughter first" Jack pointed out,

Anise looked at her as if she was a specimen in a jar "I know all I need to about Colonel Carter, she has already been studied"

"You cold hearted bitch! I am not talking about you STUDYING HER! I'm talking about you HEALING her so she can be there for her children!"

"There is more than one child?" How Jack was keeping his hands from her throat he did not know, she dipped her head and Freya came to the fore

"I apologise General O'Neill, it is partly my fault that Anise is acting in this way." Like Jack cared? "She knows that I am attracted to you and that I am envious of your relationship with Colonel Carter. As you know we Tok'ra cannot bear children, the risk of Harsesis is too high, even one with the genetic memory of a Tok'ra must be overwhelmed by the knowledge before they can develop their own, stable, personality. It was tried back in the past, but we have not tried in 1500 years." She lowered her head, but instead of her eyes flashing when she raised them, they were full of tears "It is the only regret I have, in gaining the love and companionship of Anise, I have lost the chance of children. Colonel Carter has what I cannot attain, you, and your children"

Jack looked around embarrassed by Freyas confession, apart from the fact that thought of kissing her made him shudder, he had to wonder why she brought up her attraction to him again after all these years, he had not reciprocated back then, he was definitely not going to NOW!

She held her hand out to Bosworth and he passed over the large red and gold circle.

Freya gave way to Anise, after seemingly telling her internally to help them, and for a good 20 minutes the glow travelled up and down Sams body. By the end Anise was so tired she almost fell down, but she looked up an shook her head "I am sorry," she said "I don't believe it is doing any good, as soon as I move from one portion of her body to the next, whatever it is that is causing the problem floods into the area I have cleansed" she lowered herself into a chair "I thought I could keep ahead of it, dilute it, but it is as strong and as present as ever, I am sorry" her eyes started to close and she slumped in the chair.

Teal'c lifted her and put her on the next bed Jack looked at Carolyn and said "Let her rest, don't poke and prod her, her snake will heal her, she's just tired" the doctor nodded and Jack sat next to Sam and grabbed her hand "come on love, wake up, the kids need to see their mother" she just kept on breathing in and out, not a single other movement.

He guarded Sam and kept an eye on the Tok'ra until the alien woman awoke. She sat up and ate some of the sandwiches that had been put to the side of her and she drank some water, refusing the fruit juice on the tray. As soon as she had had her fill she got off the bed and asked to see the children, Jack called for Richard and Danielle to be brought in, if she could help them then he would show her Jonathan and the rest. Daniel and the paediatrician walked in each holding a child. Anise looked the babies over and commented on their colour, the doctor was startled by the depth and echoing nature of her voice, but he told her about jaundice and with further prompting he started to explain it to her as he had to Jack. She stopped him as soon as she recognised what he was talking about and picked up the hand device from the locker beside Sam and held it over Danielle, after a couple of minutes she stopped it.

"There is something wrong" Anise stated "This should be easy to cure, it is not all that uncommon amongst human babies, though I did not recognise the symptoms or name before, but again, as with Colonel Carter, as soon as I clear one build-up and move along the body the system floods in to fill the gap, but it does not seem to dilute the strength as it should if I have removed it."

"Why was nothing done earlier for the children? It may have been easier to cure it before it got this bad. You should have tried last week to contact us"

"The children were not born last week" Jack said "They are only five days old"

"Impossible!" the Tok'ra snapped "I know I am ignorant when it comes to bearing children, but anyone can see these babies are over a month old. They are holding their heads up"

Jack pondered how much to tell the woman, but truth was he was desperate, if Thor couldn't help, maybe she could, if given all the facts. He explained as much as he could, without mentioning the other six siblings, and the fact that the Asgard seemed to be at a loss as well, Anise demanded to see the charts that had been made by the doctors and the paediatrician, who had trouble keeping his eyes off the hosts cleavage and legs, rushed off to get her the notes.

Jack sat back down beside Sam and told Daniel to take the babies back to their cribs, and told him to tell 'Dave' to be alert, inclining his head towards the woman in leather.

Daniel took the kids away and Jack sat holding Sams hand and listening to Carolyn the paediatrician and the snake talk about tests, cures and other things.

He started to nod off and leaned back slightly in the chair, getting as comfortable as possible…


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

He woke at 07:00, late for him. As a military man he was used to being up much earlier, damn Pentagon was corrupting him! If he was this bad after a month, what was he going to be like by the end of a year? Pictures of him looking in the mirror and seeing himself naked and the same size as George Hammond appeared in front of his eyes, well THAT managed to distract him from his morning woody!

Anise and her SF guard were gone, the commissary or back to her planet, he presumed.

He staggered to the small bathroom at end of the infirmary, cursing the stiffness in his neck. One day he would learn to get on the beds before falling to sleep, he could have moved one close enough so he could touch Sam.

After seeing to the call of nature he went to sit back down next to Sam, she looked the same as she had when he fell to sleep. He saw Carolyn coming towards him, she looked… apprehensive… his blood chilled, she had faced down his 'big bad General' act without blinking, even threatening him in return. Anything that worried her really, REALLY could not be good!

"Sir, I understand from Wayne that he explained bilirubin to you?" Who the hell was Wayne?

"Wayne?" he croaked, he had not had a drink yet, his mouth was dry. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes

"Dr. Cook?" nope… still not a clue "the paediatrician?" ahh! Had he even asked the mans name before? Had he cared? Damn he was trusting the lives of his children to a man he had not even bothered to be introduced to, but had sat in the same room as for three days! He needed to pull himself together, and start acting like a two star General and not like a confused self absorbed teen.

"Yes, sorry. Yes Dr. Cook did explain about Billy and its possible side effects" she looked at him as if trying to work out who Billy was and then shot him an annoyed glace, some people had no sense of humour.

"Yes, well, the most recent tests are showing that Jonathan now has a concentration of 19 μmol/L and we are going to have to recommend blood replacement" she was so cold in her delivery, no sign of the friendly, sympathetic bedside manner that Janet had radiated. She was a scientists… no she was worse… even scientists showed some emotion about their specialist field, she was a robot, and that was a huge insult to Harlan! "All the children except George are showing increased bilirubin, Danielle and Richard are next highest with levels of 17 and 16 moles respectively Jacob has 15.5, and the other girls are between 15 and 15.5"

"George's level?"

"I told you George's level is not raised"

"I know you told me Doctor" he spat at her "I asked for a figure"

"George is showing a stable 9 μmol/L, the level has not changed since we started recording the levels."

"So why is George not increasing? Is his liver functioning correctly? Are his red blood cells not dying as rapidly? If the latter, why? Is there any significant difference in any other results from George that stands out as not the norm? Have the DNA specialist go over their… graphs… and see if he can see anything that can be genetically linked to what is happening, either to the other kids, or as to why it is NOT happening to George!"

"Call security, I want a team in that room on level 16 going over every second of every childs life since they arrived, did something happen to George that did not happen to the others? The other way around?"

She was stood open mouthed listening to him giving orders. When he finished she was looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"Doctor!" she shook her head "Did you get all that?" she nodded "THEN GO DO IT!" he yelled at her, he looked quickly at Sam after his outburst, but there was no sign she had heard him, he turned his back on the rest of the ward, shaking in temper.

Maybe he had made a mistake in choosing Carolyn, but she had come highly recommended. After watching the way Carter and her dad had come together via the SGC he was sort of hoping he could get the same reaction for his other friend. However Sam had been…distant… but willing to listen to her father, and once he was convinced that Sam was not wasting her life in the mountain watching Radar screens Jacob had been the same.

Hank seemed willing, able, maybe even eager to repair the rift, but not her! He wondered, whose fault it was originally? Was she always this cold or did he do something to cause it? Was it her mother's fault?

Jack knew it wasn't easy for the children or spouses of serving officers. The spouses usually had a choice though, the children didn't, not until they left for college anyway. He shook his head sadly, Charlie had always been so very eager to see him when he got home, and if Sarah had any doubts she had hidden them deep, she was almost as good at that as he was. Mike had mentioned a couple of times that she had been on the verge of packing her bags, especially when he got back from Iraq, but all he could do was pretend nothing was wrong, and she always seemed to go along with it while he was there. They seemed to be on constant honeymoon for the first five years, though in that time he spent less than two months at home… he shook his head, this time it WAS going to be different!

He lifted Sams hand and kissed her palm gently and went to see the children and get a coffee. Only Dave Dixon was there from SG13, he was reading. Daniel and Teal'c were sat at a small table playing cards, there was an empty space where Sams bed had been, he asked one of the nurses to bring another bed in. The medical staff were gathered around another small table, as far away from the soldiers as possible. Could it be that George had only ever been held by one of them? Or never held by one of them? He asked everyone present who had had a turn at holding George and the answer seemed to be everyone… another idea shot down in flames. But not everyone was there, he wrote the question on the whiteboard for when the rest of '13 arrived. He also listed all the thing he had ordered Carolyn to do. There was a slight chance that whatever Sam had he still had a chance of developing, after all the girls had all been healthy until yesterday. He needed them to know what was happening.

He called Dr. Cook over startling the man by using his name, and asked him how soon he could start the blood transfer. He looked worried.

"Colonel Carter has something in her blood that she passed to the children"

"Naqahdah and a protein marker" Jack agreed

"Unfortunately I am not sure that giving the children 'ordinary' blood will work, and the Colonel is not available to give permission for us to draw any from her. And … well… we need a LOT, the babies are small, but there are eight of them" he looked at Jack, gauging if he understood what was being said. Jack was wondering if his blood would work, he had trace amounts of naqahdah from Kanan, but he did not have the protein marker as the snake had run away not died inside him.

"Doctor!" one of the nurses shouted, causing a couple of the babies to start crying, "I can't wake him!" she was holding Jonathan!

The doctor did everything he could, but Jonathan had joined his mother in a seeming perpetual sleep. Jack frantically contacted Thor to be told that he had an idea, the alien hologram disappeared only to reappear seconds later and ask for the shield to be lowered, he needed to get into the facility and couldn't. Jack sent Teal'c up to turn it off as he had been present for the demonstration. Teal'c left at a run and Jack held his unconscious son with tears streaming down his face.

Thor appeared and by his side was a tiny version of the medical bed the Asgard used, he pushed it slightly and it went to hover next to Jack who placed his son in it carefully. The cover closed and the lights inside dimmed slightly. Thor was explaining to them how the child was now in suspended animation, and would not worsen any more when Carolyn ran into the room.

"Colonel Carter has gone!" she announced.


	13. Chapter 13

**13**

"Gone?" Jack asked incredulously "What do you mean gone?"

"I mean, bright white light, and she wasn't there any more" she gestured to Thor Jack turned to look at him as well

"Did you take her to put her in suspension too?" he asked hopefully, but he knew Thor would have told him before doing it.

"We saw no need to suspend Colonel Carter, her body is able to survive in a coma, the child's will not"

Thor disappeared, "HEY! Take me with you!" Jack shouted into thin air, a bright light surrounded him and he was in space again.

"Tell them to turn the shield back on!" he told Thor. Thor gestured to a pad on the floor, Jack stepped into it and he was surrounded by a hologram of the room so many miles below him. "Danny, tell T to turn the shield on again, we don't want anyone else being taken"

Thor moved a few stones about, spoke to the computer, and watched a display for a few seconds, and turned to Jack. "I am sorry O'Neill, there is no trace of the ship, nor of Colonel Carter" he hung his head in shame "Do you wish to return to your children now?"

Jack nodded, desolate and waited for his grey buddy to get Teal'c to shut the shield down for a few seconds, and he was back in the nursery.

He looked around, but once again without Sam he felt adrift, and isolated. He did not want to hold the children, he couldn't face the thought that she was in the hands of the people who had done this to them and made eight beautiful babies just so he could watch them die!

He knew he was not an angel, he had done bad things in his life, but nothing anyone ever did could lead to them deserving something like THIS!

He headed out of the room and wandered around, he found himself outside his old office, the door was open and it was empty, he entered and sat behind Hanks desk, a knock came on the door to the briefing room and without waiting for permission Walter entered and put a mug of coffee in front of him. "The president asked if you would call him as soon as you are able, sir" he said in a soft voice.

Jack had spent a lot of time annoyed with Walter and his ability to know what was needed before it was known it was needed, but he took great comfort now, that someone would do the necessary things without him having to think enough to order it.

He picked up the mug, it was, of course, exactly the temperature he liked to drink it, almost scalding hot, he picked a speck of fluff from the surface and wiped it on the blotter. Took a deep breath in and picked up the red phone.

He was put straight through, even though he was told that the president was in a meeting. He told his commander in chief all the up to date news, and what avenues he was looking at as to why only one baby out of the eight was healthy.

He got the shock of his life when Hayes came up with a suggestion. "Why not ask Thor to freeze them all until you have a cure?" Jack shook his head, to the phone "Then we can put every resource into finding a cure and no one will be distracted by having to actually look after the babies at the same time." Jack couldn't believe he was hearing this!

He was just about to explode when he heard someone on the background of the presidents office do it for him "You can't ask the man to do that to his own children!" the Texan twang came clearly down the line.

Hayes must have covered the mouthpiece up, but Jack could still hear him. "Dammit George, you know the situation! We need Jack O'Neill here, not in Cheyenne Mountain, he's the only one that THAT Russian trusts!" Jack stood to attention, even though no one could see him doing it

"Respectfully sir…" He waited until the muffled sound disappeared and assumed that the president was listening "You can shove it where the sun don't shine" and he put the receiver down.

He went back to the nursery, he had nowhere else to go, he had been there less than a minute when a light beamed into the room and an Asgard appeared. Teal'c must be running the machine.

"Hermiod" Jack said, "what ya doin' here?"

"I have brought the portable shields that have so far been made." He said gesturing to several necklaces he had on his chest.

He picked one up and handed it over for Jack to inspect. "There is another way of miniaturising the devices, to make them even smaller, but I have not enough neutronium to manufacture them at this time. I have asked Thor to request some be sent, hopefully it will arrive either later this Earth day or tomorrow."

Jack held the pendant, it was about 3 inches across, round and only about 4 millimetres thick, it had some design embossed on it, actually it looked like a Stargate! Hermiod held up another disk, he demonstrated its settings.

"If you turn the outer ring… thus… the device is active, and it will protect anyone within a 2 metre distance from being taken." He twisted it back, past the point it had started at and explained "This will allow transport, but will broadcast a signal to the other devices to communicate where it arrives." He said "now" into the air and he was gone, the device in Jacks hand spoke, using Hermiods voice.

"The activated shield is approximately 65,000 kilometres away, vertically" Jack looked up automatically and converted it

"45,000 miles, that's 5000 miles outside our atmosphere, it didn't look that high when I was there earlier" he said to no one in particular. Hermiod reappeared.

"I was on the Daedalus not the Samantha Carter, that is in much lower orbit to help shield the mountain" Jack closed his eyes in pain as he once again heard the name of the ship Thor had brought. Hermiod had appeared again in the far corner of the room and Jacks amulet said "The activates shield is 2.5 metres away 34° from magnetic north"

"How are we to attach the disks to the children?" Hermiod asked, "It seems to me unwise to put a chain around their necks when they are not in full control of their bodies, they may cause themselves injury" Jack agreed but had no suggestions

"How would YOU suggest they wear one?" he asked, knowing that they never used clothing and he had only seen the blue stone thing twice, once wrapped around someone's hand and once around someone's neck.

"I would wear it next to my communicator" came the unexpected answer

Jack looked him up and down and asked "You are wearing a communicator?"

"All Asgard wear them, all the time, we have them fitted into our chest cavity when we are grown, usually before we transfer our consciousness, but not always"

That was soo not happening to his kids!

Dr. Cook stepped forward "If I may, gentlemen?" he waited for a nod from Jack before continuing "We could sew pockets into the back of their clothes for now, once the new ones are made we can decide then how to make it a bit more permanent depending on the size"

Jack nodded and the doctor gestured to one of the nurses, he explained that every set of clothing would have to have a patch sewn onto it so they could slip the disk in, and sent her to the PX to get some cloth to use as patches, recommending handkerchiefs if available, and some sewing kits, which they always had.

They placed a shield in each cot, and one on the pod, until such time as the clothes were ready and Hermiod offered Jack the last one. Jack held up the one he had "Got one" he said.

"This one is for Colonel Carter when she returns" he placed it in the tall mans hand. Jack noticed he said when and not IF, and was grateful for it.

"We may now deactivate the large shield generator permanently, or you may wish to leave it on, however it does make it awkward responding quickly if we are needed" he nodded at the life pod with Jonathan in, floating serenely in the corner. Jack took the hint and contacted Teal'c up 3 levels once again and told him to kill it.

The nurse returned with a pile of hankies and a sewing box, and Jack smiled at Daniels face when all SG13 and himself took kit and started sewing the patches on the backs of shirts, dungarees, babygro's and dresses. After all you had to be able to repair your own things in the forces, no ones mother was available to do it for you.

Hank and Teal'c walked into this scene of domestic bliss and Teal'c sat down on the floor cross legged and started sewing as well. Hank gestured for Jack to join him in the corridor, and Jack, knowing what was coming reluctantly got out of his chair and followed him.

"Jack did you put the phone down on the President?"

"What would you have done Hank?" his voice rising in anger. He explained what the suggestion had been.

"Makes sense" came a voice behind him, he turned, Carolyn was stood listening "You don't want them to risk brain damage" she said having noticed his face

"They aren't thinking of the bloody kids!" he spat "They just want me back in DC"

She shrugged her shoulders at him "Isn't that what you are paid to do?" she asked. He looked at Hank and saw the man slump.

"Sorry Jack" he said "I don't know how she came to be this way, but she will be gone as soon as we find someone else"

"You can't replace me just because I disagree with you!" she stated "This is the best opportunity to study front line medicine"

"Maybe you should learn to be a human first" Jack said "I would rather deal with Anise at least I KNOW she is a snake." Carolyn stalked back to the infirmary and they could hear the sound of things hitting the walls as she threw them

"Transfer her to '51" Jack said "She will be right at home there and not have to deal with any pesky patients"

"Thanks for trying" Hank said, and it was obvious he knew Jack had only employed her to try and help them reconcile. "I must remember to thank my ex for the way she has turned out" she shook his head "You know I went for custody, but back then I didn't have a chance, the mother always won, and I was away a lot, stationed in Europe most of the eighties"

Jack clapped the older man on the shoulder in sympathy, and watched him as he headed back to his office, all thoughts of the president forgotten. Jack did not forget however!


	14. Chapter 14

**14**

Landry couldn't have quite got to the '28 when Daniel burst out of the nursery.

"Jack!" he gasped "Sam… 'gate room"

Jack looked at him and shouting "DOCTOR" he ran off, leaving Daniel to explain to the young woman what was happening.

He gave her credit, by the time he got there she was only 5 steps behind, carrying a portable defibulator and she was 100 professional.

She pushed everyone out of the way to find Sam laid on the floor, a coat off an SF covering her, the hospital scrubs she had been changed into when she dropped into the coma all that was between her body and the cold floor, but no one had tried to move her, all these men were combat trained and knew not to do anything if there was no immediate danger.

Carolyn fell to her knees, pressing her stethoscope to Sams chest, she opened one eye and shone her penlight into it, and Sam battered her hand away!

"God what is it with you people and those lights?" she said annoyed. She rolled on her side and started to get to her feet, "WOW! Dizzy" she said and decided the floor was not so bad after all.

Jack dropped behind her head and supported her upper body as they waited for the gurney to arrive, he pressed his lips into the top of her head and held her tight "Welcome back" his voice choked.

"What am I doing here?" she asked, "last I remember Thor had given us a shield, you made me shower and then we went back to the children and… that's it" she said.

"You slipped into a coma, Thor had no ideas why. Anise," he felt her stiffen, he knew how she felt about that particular Tok'ra "tried to heal you but it didn't work, and then you disappeared again." He reached into his pocket and drew out the amulet, slipping the chain over her head and placing it inside her scrubs next to her dog tags. "Shield" he said, she nodded.

The gurney arrived and with the help of one of the guards he helped her onto it, and Carolyn got to the bottom and started dragging the whole thing herself. Jack gestured and he and a couple of SFs grabbed the head and sides and helped the little medic along.

Sam actually admitted to being tired as she was taken to the lift, and she let out a breath and slipped into sleep before the car arrived, Jack poked her and she moved away from the offending digit, at least she was sleeping, not worse, Jack thought.

Jack stayed by Sam as she was hooked up to various monitors, she woke as her blood was drawn and saw Anise sat on the bed next to her studying her like a lab rat. "What is she doing here?" she asked

"She wants to study the kids" Jack told her in an undertone, putting one hand firmly on her shoulder to hold her down "I know… I know… regardless she DID try to heal Richard and Danielle and yourself with the hand device. She failed, but she did TRY"

"What about Jonathan, I thought he was the one that was poorly" Jack took a breath and she jumped to the wrong conclusion "OH GOD! HE'S DEAD?"

"Hush… hush love," Jack climbed onto the bed, holding her "he's not dead. Thor put him into a stasis pod when his body started poisoning itself" he told her in a low voice.

"Anise thinks we only have the two children she has seen, she came out with 'Jacob would want his grandchildren to help the Tok'ra' bullshit, don't let her play you into revealing more than she already knows. Oh and Carolyn is not a happy camper either, but that can wait" he saw the object of his latest disclosure bearing down on them.

"General O'Neill, please remove yourself from Colonel Carters bed" she said it in a loud crisp voice, Jack smiled, if she thought that anyone would be shocked at the thought, or that they could be accused of breaking the frat regs, she was in for a huge disappointment.

He gave his most insolent grin and leaned over Sam, kissed her thoroughly and then got off the bed. Making sure the doctor knew he was doing her a favour by complying.

Sam lay back and stared at the ceiling. Anise came across to the pair. "Colonel Carter may I congratulate you on the … arrival… of your children?" Damn the woman/snake/thing was trying to charm Sam, Jack thought it amusing considering what Freya had revealed before. He watched the barely dressed woman pick up the healing device and explain what had happened from her point of view, and apologised for being unable to heal her. Then she asked her about her disappearance and any treatment she may have undergone, but Sam was a blank.

Carolyn had a tray of food brought in but Sam was not really hungry she said, and when Jack tried to push her to eat she refused outright. He tried to persuade her, cajole her, order her and even tried emotional blackmail! But she would not touch the food.

He offered to send out for her favourite dishes from the Chinese where she lived, but she insisted she was not hungry. "Honestly, I don't feel the need, they probably fed me on the ship" she said, Jack eventually nodded and told her she had a 4 hour reprieve and then she would have to eat something.

Thor beamed into the far corner of the infirmary and headed towards them, "Good news O'Neill" he opened the conversation. "I believe that the ship responsible for the abductions is… Colonel Carter!"

"The ship is Colonel Carter?" Jack asked confused.

"No, sorry. We had not been informed of the Colonels reappearance; I was surprised that is all. The ship, we now believe, is Furling"

"FURLING?" Jack couldn't believe his ears, he had only heard of them the once, when he was cured of the first download. Nothing they had ever found seemed to allude to them, and the Asgard had not mentioned them since.

"Our records of the interaction between the two races are, incomplete. Replicators have damaged much and destroyed more. I myself only met representatives a few times, a couple of thousand of your years ago. But I have been studying the fleeting contact my vessel recorded when I pulled you from the ship, and based on everything I can find I believe it could be a fair extrapolation. There are definitely key points of symmetry."

"Such as…?" asked Sam

"Such as the positioning of the engines, the over all shape of the craft, things that races tend not to change unless they have to, more through inertia than through conscious thought" Sam was nodding, and Jack could see the point as well, why change what works?

"So, Thor, have you any way of contacting them? You did used to be big buddies back in the day" he said

"Unfortunately not O'Neill, we never found out why they stopped communicating totally, and eventually we assumed they had been wiped out by some agency. Whether through nature, malice or apathy."

"Apathy?" Anise asked "how can a race die of apathy?" she asked, Jack shot her a look, but he was interested in the answer too.

"The Furlings were an old race when we met, even older than the 'gate builders, they had reached an almost enlightened plane before ever venturing off their native world." He started the narrative. "Their original home world was in a gas cloud, they could not see the stars and so did not dream of reaching them, as most races that have advanced did at some point in their history. Then something happened, a rogue moon drifted too close to a nearby sun, it had a decided tilt to its core, and when it was pulled closer to the gravitational well, it wobbled, and spun out at tremendous velocity"

"Sling shot around the sun?" Jack mentioned one of his very favourite missions he loved 1969! Sam nodded at him "It go back or forward in time?" he asked

"No, the moon sped through the gas cloud, causing a near miss, and pulled the gas after it in its wake. The society of the Furlings was… stagnant, at the time, peace and harmony are all very well, but without a certain amount of struggle or strife people give up fighting to live. The consequences of the moon passing near by on their planet was violent upheaval, earthquakes, tidal waves, millions died. They had no defence because they never could have imagined needing one.

"After almost fifty years the planet had stabilised and the Furlings decided it was time to go and see what was out in the night sky that had suddenly appeared. They visited their closest neighbours and found the thrill of exploration and of colonisation. However after a thousand years they tired of this occupation too, and started to curtail travel. Not to control the population, nor to save on resources, they just…"

"Couldn't be bothered?" Jack supplied

"Exactly. We met them for the first time as they had started this decline, as the Goa'uld became a threat they seemed to try to rise to the challenge, but their technology was never aimed at defence or attack, they had never gone through a violent development phase. They never had an internal war, several of our scientists were amazed they had evolved at all as there was no struggle to survive in their instincts. Eventually they joined our alliance with the Nox and the ancients and asked to borrow shield technology in exchange for which they offered to teach their cultural values, and their advanced spirituality, and then they turned their backs on the struggle and decided to ignore the Goa'uld altogether.

"They retreated to their planets, and persuaded the Nox into becoming the gentle pacifists they are today, and, of course, they helped the ancients ascend, even though they did not ascend themselves. The Asgard, they started to shun. We DID struggle and fight, we tried to protect people who needed help, and asked for it, and, as to the Goa'uld, well as Colonel Carter put it once, we kicked their asses!" Jack was delighted to hear the colloquialism from the little grey man! Anise looked almost sick at his corruption.


	15. Chapter 15

**15**

Jack was still grinning when Dr. Cook appeared at the door signalling him, he gestured for the doctor to enter but the doc shook his head and signalled him to come out instead. Jack got up and headed to the door. "Sir, Janet is getting worse, she is almost at the same point Jonathan was at when Thor put him in that floaty thing" his hands flapped slightly as he had no idea what to call it. "Richard will be needing one soon as well" the man sounded defeated, and he looked bloody tired, but at least he acted like a human.

Jack went back into the room and told Thor he was wanted next door, Thor cocked his head and then stepped through the doors to the corridor, heading the right way. Jack turned to Sam and gave her a reassuring smile, "Be right back love, nothing to worry about, if you decide to get a shower, keep the amulet on!"

Thinking about it though, she DID come back in a much better state than she had left in. If they could only contact the Furlings and ask them if they could help the kids! He was turning into the nursery as stasis pods began appearing in the corridor, Jack pushed one through the doors and pulled the other behind him. Daniel and Teal'c lay their bundles into the pods and the lids closed. The only thing keeping him sane was the fact that he had been in one of them himself, at deaths door, and HE had survived!

"For what reason did the stasis pods appear in the corridor?" Teal'c enquired.

"The children each have a shield on that protects for a 2 metre radius, we cannot beam in, just as we cannot beam out," that explained why Thor had appeared at the furthest corner of the infirmary earlier, Sam and himself had shields on. Jack was never one for jewellery, apart from his dog tags the only thing he had ever worn was his wedding ring, it felt strange, especially as it was so big.

Jack spent a good 10 minutes assuring Dr. Cook that he understood he was doing everything he could, short of the full blood replacement, and that he was just glad that HE was there to help look after his children. The younger man looked pleased at the vote of confidence, right up until his eye settled on an empty cot. He went back to the small table the medics were using and explained that he was looking up cures online, maybe some folk remedy that the medical profession had dismissed would be efficacious. Jack was glad to see he was thinking outside the box. Maybe he would find the cure before Thor did, after all the Asgard did not know the whole of the Earths pharmacology, and could in no way be considered an expert on humans.

The nurses took the routine blood sample from the remaining babies, and SG13 sat around looking upset that they may no longer be required, after all there were only 5 babies left, 3 nurses, 1 doctor, Daniel, Teal'c, himself and Sam when she got up.

Jack decided he better release at least part of '13 or he may get Hank into trouble, after all they were a front line combat unit, not nannies. "Dixon" he said and gestured out of the room, the team leader rose and followed him. "I know your men have little to do in there now…"

"Sir, please don't dismiss us, now the shields are of shorter area, who is to say whoever took them before won't beam into the far side of the room, remove the shields and take them again?" Jack thought about it, of course, he was right. Even with the Asgard in space above they had managed to snatch Sam. Jack nodded slowly "Besides sir…" Dixon grinned "the little buggers are so damn cute" Jack grinned back at him and then sighed.

"Something will work out sir, you're SG1, something always does!"

"Thing is, I'm not SG1 any more, none of us are"

"You will ALWAYS be SG1 sir, General Landry tell you he refused to make up another team? The designation is retired unless you all come back" that put a lump in Jacks throat, he had to swallow several times while Dixon pretended to be fascinated by a patch on the wall.

"I'll clear it with Hank, but split your team for now, get some sleep, and you and Wells get off base and see your own families for a change."

"Once they are out of danger we will sir, you would do the same for us" he turned and headed back into the nursery. Jack stood a couple of minutes, but no one came out to go for a rest, he shook his head, Dixon was as good at following orders as HE was!

Thor exited the room and turned back to the infirmary, following him, Jack stopped on the threshold and told the SF who was supposedly guarding Anise to rustle up a couple of trays, he would watch her, make sure she didn't wander off. He told him to make sure he got some blue jello and a couple of pieces of chocolate cake too. Sam wouldn't be able to turn down her favourite desserts, and once she started eating she would not be able to stop.

Jack told Sam that Richard and Danielle had both had to go into stasis pods as the bilirubin levels had sky rocketed and he looked to Anise as Sam started to cry softly "Thank you for your efforts, we have to hope we can contact the Furlings for aid. If you wish to return home after you eat we will contact you when the children are better and I promise you will get blood samples from them." Freya spoke

"Thank you for the offer, but Dr. Lam has already provided me with samples from all eight babies and their DNA results, we are disappointed that you decided to hide the full facts from us, but hopefully we will learn something useful from this information" She stood up and headed for the door. Jack held out a hand to stop her.

"You need to wait for an escort" he said.

"Of course I do," she replied "I am glad I am a trusted ally"

She stood and waited for the SF to return with the food trays and then she left, heading to the 'gate.

Jack stormed down the infirmary and opened the office door. "Pack up, you're gone" he said, he picked up the phone off her desk and called for a security patrol and her father to come down/up

When Hank appeared in the small office Jack explained what she had done and told him he was going to press charges with the medical board for breeching patient confidentiality in a manner that could endanger them, and he wanted her sent to the Castle and held incommunicado until he could decide what to do with her.

Hank wanted to be able to protect his daughter, but he had read the mission files, as well as private notes over the years tagged on by both Hammond and Jack, and he had to agree. She could easily have endangered these children by passing the information on.

She laughed, slightly manic, and told them that the children would soon be out of their hands anyway as the NID were very interested in them and would be ordering them to be transported to '51 soon

"Oh, there's not a chance in hell" Jack said and told the guard detail to arrange transport to Leavenworth, and he added, she had to be in solitary.


	16. Chapter 16

**16**

Sam was upset, but more than that she was ill, she told him she could feel 'it' starting again, though it was not bad as yet. He pulled over the trays the SF had brought in and tried to get her to eat, but she still insisted that she did not feel hungry. He went and got Dr. Cook and asked him if he had any ideas, the huge black rings around his eyes told Jack that he would not be much use to anyone very shortly, and Jack ordered him to lay on the bed Anise had been on previously and get some rest. He protested but Jack stood and looked at him until he gave in. Jack then phoned Walter and was told that another doctor was on his way from the academy hospital as they spoke, he smiled and thanked the man once more, and went and lay down next to his future bride and the mother of his children.

He held her tight as they both drifted off to sleep.

Jack woke at 06:00 and swore to himself that he would get bigger 'married' beds in the infirmary in future. He could not have moved a muscle during the night or he would have fallen off the bed, and he was as stiff as a board. He looked down at Sam, she didn't look great, though she was neither hot nor cold there was an air of…wrongness… about her.

He shook her and she moaned, "Let me sleep sir" he would forgive the honourific this time as she was drowsy.

"Come on, sleeping beauty, lets see those beautiful eyes" she rolled onto her back and opened them just a touch, and squinched them shut again.

"Too bright" she said. Jack went to the light control and turned them down a little and she sat up in bed.

"Hey" he said softly

"Hey yourself" she replied "I don't feel good Jack" it took a hell of a lot for her to admit to being ill! And he looked around the ward, not seeing anyone except Dr. Cook still asleep on the next bed.

"I'll be right back" Jack said and headed for the small office, there was no one there. He turned and headed for the nursery. Inside he could see four occupied cots and four pods! Oh GOD! Another child had got to the point where they had to freeze them. He pulled himself together and shoved his emotions into a 'room' in his mind, he was good at doing that.

"Who…" he gestured to the pods

"Grace" Dave Dixon answered. "and I'm afraid Jacob has gotten a lot more yellow overnight sir"

Jack went and stood at the spot in the room at which he was at the corner of every occupied cot and looked at the remaining half of his children. There were things to be done, he just could not fall apart yet.

"Carter needs a doctor" he said, "Did the new man arrive yet?"

"I'll go get him Jack" Daniel said. He returned in a couple of minutes with an older, slightly balding man with a distinct curvature of the upper spine. Jack imagined that he would be perpetually leaning over his patients on their beds and that could be …unnerving. Then the man cocked his head so he looked directly into his face and Jack saw eyes as blue as Sams with a merry twinkle in them and a wicked grin, he immediately warmed to this man, but then he had liked Carolyn too to start with!

"Doctor Frankie Lyman at your service" Jack jumped slightly "No relation" he said

"Didn't imagine you were, you being white" Jack answered with a grin.

"I owned the name first" the doc replied "But decided not to make a fuss when the songs were a success

"I've been studying the charts since I got here and I have a feeling that Colonel Carter is no better?" Jack nodded solemnly he gestured to the door. The doctor walked out and at Jacks direction found the infirmary doors and went in, Sam was almost upright, but seemed to be tilted off to one side and unable to correct herself. "I have a theory" he said, "but I am warning you, if I am wrong you could get worse" Sam nodded that she understood.

"Thor can always shove me in a box" she said as a joke Jack decided not to fill her in on the children as yet, she had enough to worry about.

The doctor went back out the door and returned with what looked like sludge in a beaker.

"Could you try to drink this" he said thrusting it at her. She looked at it suspiciously,

"What is it?"

"Activated charcoal" he said "I believe that you are being poisoned slowly by whatever it causing the rise in the bilirubin of the babies, I'm hoping the super absorption of the charcoal will grab it out of your system as it passes through your gut. I don't want you to eat anything for a couple of hours"

"Doc!" Jack exclaimed "she hasn't eaten since she went into the coma!"

"I'm not hungry Jack"

"That's what gave me this clue" the man said his eyes twinkling at her, Dr. Cook rolled over, coming awake at last "I am betting your lack of appetite is imposed by whoever took you" he waved his hand near his head "the charts and the staff I have spoken to since I arrived have all mentioned you not being hungry, but they do not report any sign of nausea at the sight and smell of food, you just are not interested. I'm guessing" he looked at Jack "and it is ONLY a guess, that when they took you to bring you out of the coma they set a subliminal command, or even gave you an appetite suppressant to stop you falling ill as fast"

Cook got off the bed "What about the children?"

"I guess that they have the same trigger, but unlike the Colonel here, they cannot go a few days without sustenance."

Jack looked from one medic to the other and Cook said "That could explain the trigger in the others, but what makes George immune?"

"I have asked for tests on his stomach contents" the balding man chuckled "It's never hard getting a sample of stomach contents from a baby, they provide them regularly. I have had samples from all four of the children still awake sent off"

"FOUR?!" Doctor Cook ran out of the room and Sam grabbed his hand with tears in her eyes

"Who?" she whispered

"Grace" he replied and she started to sob quietly, still holding the glass of charcoal. He pulled her into his embrace and the tears wouldn't stop rolling down his cheeks either. The doctor came to their side and put a hand on her shoulder, and one on his.

"We WILL find out what is causing this" he said in a low, reassuring voice "With half the galaxy helping, how can we fail? And you have no idea how astonished I am to be able to say that, yesterday I was wondering if there as intelligent life anywhere and today I find that other species consider WE qualify for that status, I cannot wait to meet an alien!" he said trying to distract them slightly

"You already have" Jack answered, he nodded at the door and Teal'c was stood there

"O'Neill" he boomed, softly… strange how he could do that Jack thought "Thor asks that you stand at the other side of Colonel Carters bed, he cannot get clearance to beam in when you are on that side, and he does not wish to disturb you until you are ready. As soon as you move he will arrive"

Jack started to move and Sam remembered the charcoal, "I use a lot of this stuff in my lab, I never thought of drinking it!"

A beam of light and there was Thor, pressed up against the wall. "Thank you O'Neill" he said and walked forwards

"Oh my!" the doctor said "you are much more impressive in real life you know" he stated.

Jack introduced them to each other and Thor listened as he explained the doctor's theory.

"This is an application of active carbon that we have not thought of" the mannequin said

"does it truly absorb poison from the internal organs?"

"From the digestive tract yes." The doctor explained "I am hoping that as it passes through her gut that it will absorb bilirubin, or whatever it is that is causing the Colonel to sicken, in direct opposition of how the gut usually works, the nutrients being absorbed into the blood FROM the gut"

"Fascinating" Thor shook his head "The way you humans think is truly unfathomable, I hope this treatment is successful, maybe we could try it on one of the children?"

"I don't want to risk it yet," the Dr. Lyman said "It will not harm them if they drink it, but I would rather not introduce anything into them until we get some results back"

"O'Neill, the reason I came was to give you this." He held up one of the white stones, the usual control pieces for Asgard technology

"Thanks" he bounced it in his hand a couple of times then tossed it from one to the other

"Sir!" Sam said from the bed and he realised he was fiddling again.

He shoved one hand in his pocket like a naught boy told off for stealing apples he looked down at the floor. She laughed at him and when he raised his head to look at her and smile he got the shock of his life, her lips were black, so were her gums and he could see bits of white teeth showing through the coal…

"Carter you seriously need to brush your teeth" he said, she squinted at him in mock anger and he decided to stop it before it turned real.

"What does it control?" he turned back to Thor

"This is the control for your personal transport, we need to pick the locations that you wish it to take you to"

"From here to DC will do fine," he answered

"I do not believe you would wish to always appear in the infirmary," Jack had forgotten what pedants the Asgard could be.

"I'll get Hank" he said and he picked up the phone on the wall behind the door. He helped Sam to the bathroom while they were waiting for him to arrive, and she brushed her teeth, though the doctor told her she couldn't use anything but water and a brush, and she had just finished her ablutions when the General walked through the door, with another one!

"Sir!" she tried to come to attention but Jack had to hold her up

"George" he drawled "I would like to say it is a surprise, but I don't think it is" he helped her back onto the bed and got her settled before turning to face the music.


	17. Chapter 17

**17**

"I am not going to apologise George"

"Didn't expect you would son, the president was totally out of line and I told him so, and so did the Joint Chiefs, they were in the room too. We were having a crisis meeting, the Russians are…"

"Don't want to hear it, sir"

"What did you call me down for Jack?" asked Hank. It was obvious the man had not slept, and Jack couldn't blame him, here he was fighting for his kids and Hank had just lost his. Though she was not dead in truth, she may as well be in his eyes.

"Thor wants to know where I want my stone setting, he pointed out that I don't want to be always appearing here" he pointed straight down at his feet. Then looked at both men "guess I'm looking for somewhere that I won't be appearing on top of anyone, or IN anyone"

"The system prevents that happening O'Neill, if you try to transport when someone or something is occupying the space it will fail and you will have to wait until it is clear. Usually the Asgard in charge of transporting will move the co-ordinates slightly to give sufficient space, but in this instance we need fixed points as the system will be automated."

"So I need a space that will always be clear, any ideas?"

"We could find a store room on '28 close to the gate for you." Hank said

"Or you could just go straight to your quarters" George offered

"Don't have any quarters any more" he said

"Storage closet it is then, Ill get one located and cleared for you, and a sign posted on it to stop people going in"

He left and George looked after him sadly "This has hit him hard, not surprising really, but he is questioning everything he does now, and he's expecting you to hold him responsible for her actions."

"Shit George I was the one who gave her the job, he had no idea until she turned up that first day."

"She is still his daughter, Jack, you know he is never going to forgive himself for it, just as you have never forgiven yourself for your sons actions" there was a whole world of sympathy in the older mans gaze, and Jack could not deny the truth of his words.

"So where do I want the other end to be?" he said aloud

"There are more than two settings O'Neill" Thor said

"How many?" he asked

"As many as you need, as long as we get the co-ordinates programmed in and your verbal command there is no limit as long as it is in the correct portion of the earth to be seen from the platform"

"Can we go stand on this platform so I can see where is in view?" Jack asked but Thor was shaking his head

"It is not a real platform, it is the name we give to the control satellite, all of this continent is visible as well as the one to the south. The Antarctic outpost is JUST available, but the continents of Asia, Europe and Australasia are not."

"You need to be able to get to your office in DC Jack" George said, "And the White House too."

"I ain't gonna be needing either George, in fact I don't think I will be needing the transport at all"

"You can't quit" said Hammond and Sam together "I won't let you" she added

"Hell you don't need me!" he was almost shouting "You need someone younger, fitter and with a lot more brains!"

"You talking about me, Sam or me, Colonel Carter? Because in both situations you are wrong, and the only reason the president pissed you off yesterday was because HE needs you too, Jack" she reached over from where she was laid down and took his hand "the whole world needs you! We are just lucky enough to have you" he could see the love and devotion in her eyes, but still he could not understand it, she could do so much better than him.

He sighed, "Ok George, if you are sure I have my job, we need to put points in for DC"

"And the cabin" Sam added, that way you can rest and recover from stress without having to drive for hours on end

"I can't use a piece of alien technology just to go off on holiday!" he exclaimed

"Of course you can" Thor said, "I can also adjust it so you can take other people along with you if you wish." He thought for a while "Though I believe we should make that a manual setting, so if you wish to escape from someone they do not automatically transport along with you.

"Sweet" he said. He could finish work in DC, jump to '51 to Sam, then jump to the cabin all in less than an hour. The huge distance between them would mean nothing, he could get 'home' to her quicker than he could get to his rented apartment at the moment, and it was less than a mile from the Pentagon.

"Ok how do I specify exactly where I need to land?"

"We will go to the Samantha Carter and you can show me, using a hologram of Earth" Thor said, Jack held up his hand,

"We need General Hammond and Sam as well with us"

"I need to get dressed before I go anywhere" Sam said

"I'll go get your clothes" he rushed from the room

When he came back with her clothes he helped her into the bathroom to change and went and stood in the far corner of the room. "I want one of the points to be here" he said and Thor produced another stone (from where Jack did not ask) and spoke into it in his own language.

"If you are going to bring anyone along with you make sure you are facing due west and they are in front of you" Thor stated.

Sam came out of the room and Thor told them to turn off their shields and the next thing they knew they were in space looking down on their beautiful planet again.

It never got old.

A huge hologram of Earth appeared in the centre of the room, it narrowed in to the US and Sam stepped up to it and pointed to the eastern seaboard it zoomed in quickly, she pointed to Washington… zoom… she pointed to the west of the river…zoom… down below memorial bridge …zoom… the familiar triangle of roads… zoom she stood back, she had not been to Jacks office since he got one and he and George stepped up, they took it in turns to zoom in and eventually locate the interior space that was his office. He had a small private bathroom to the rear, and he zoomed in on that, knowing that he was the only one to ever go in it, except for the cleaners.

So that was one set, when Thor prompted him he said he would use 'office' as the address, not imaginative but not something he would forget either. Then they zoomed out a little and zoomed back in to the east of the river and got to the White House. Here they had a problem, the secret service men were never very happy when someone appeared out of thin air next to the man they were sworn to protect, and Jack did not want to be shot.

He was just about to tell them he would be happy to travel from his office by car when Thor gestured him to the holographic generator spot and he was suddenly 'there' in the middle of the rug surrounded by stars and the man himself.

The Join Chiefs jumped up and stood between him and 'The Man' until they recognised who it was, 5 seconds later the door opened and men in suits with weapons drawn rushed in. Hayes just calmly flapped his hands and told everyone to calm down.

"Good to see you Jack" he said cautiously "Want to apologise about yesterday, I was totally out of line"

"Yes you were" Jack said and he secretly enjoyed the outraged look on Navy and Army, though he received a scowl off his own chief, it wasn't like the man didn't know him, didn't expect him to be blunt.

"Thor has offered me a gizmo… doohickey… thingy, to help with the situation"

"You are going to appear like this in future to meetings? I am not sure that will work" he said

"No I just need a safe place to appear" Jack said "I am going to use a closet at the SGC and my private bathroom at the Pentagon, but it won't work if someone or something is in the place I want to appear."

Navy stood up and said "What about behind that enormous pot plant in the outer office? They all trouped out of the room and Jack said "Thor, follow them please" he reappeared half in a desk in the outer office, as it was full of people, almost causing the secretary there to faint. Navy pointed to the huge plant and Jack noticed there was actually quite a space behind it, the only thing that would be in his way as he stepped out would be the huge leaves, no branches or anything to impede his movement, he went and 'stood' on the spot and said "Here Thor, lets call it Oval" and suddenly he was there in truth.

Everyone turned and went into the oval office except Hayes himself who looked straight at Jack "We need to talk, do not go rushing back off, please" he indicated that Jack should precede him into the room. Jack took the stone from his pocket and said "Can you send down Colonel Carter and General Hammond, and you are also welcome to join us" and put it back in hi pocket and walked in, as if to his execution.

Sam and George appeared behind the sofa and Thor, in his chair, at the side of the presidents desk.

It took them an hour of almost none stop talking but they finally had everyone up to date, Thor came out with a surprise when he insisted that Jack be given full diplomatic status, as the liaison between Earth and Asgard, and that he had a hope that the children could provide answers to some problem the Asgard had later in their lives. Jack, Sam and Hammond suspected it was to do with the failing of the clone system, but did not mention it aloud.

Army wanted the president to get a stone, as it was a more secure way to get from one place to another, but as it was pointed out, it would be noticed if he could travel 3000 miles in the blink of an eye, no one was watching Jack. "Anyway," Hayes said "I enjoy travel, I use the time to relax, Jack can be in constant meetings all day all over the country, I get to rest between," Jack scowled at him…

"For cryin' out loud" he said under his breath. Causing Sam, Hammond, Hayes and Airforce to laugh.


	18. Chapter 18

**18 **

They stayed for lunch at the White House, though Sam did not eat anything, she was looking even paler than in the morning, but she was no where near as sick as before. Maybe the charcoal was working?

Thor took them back to his ship afterwards and Jack zoomed into 'cabin' in the corner of the master bedroom, and then he zoomed to the Nevada dessert to 'Sam' at the place she had moved to last week, he had just had Thor add that when Sam said "I aren't living there when my children are at the springs, she said, "take the point to my Lab and Jack can take me to work every day".

Jack looked at her, they had not discussed what they were going to do once everything was settled, but she seemed to have the same hopes he did, he just had not wanted to push her into anything. "We need a house close to the mountain" she said "and you can set the point when we have one, but for now we will use the infirmary, or even my old quarters." Jack agreed delighted that she was going to move in with him and the kids, though if he had thought about it he realised that she wouldn't have done anything else.

They asked to be taken back to the SGC and Thor sent them to the corridor outside the nursery, Jack turned his shield on and did Sams as well and they went in to see the children.

Dr. Cook was almost at his wits end. The tests on Jacob and Tilda were showing signs of reaching dangerous levels. Jack heard a noise outside in the corridor again and two more pods were pushed in by Balinsky returning from the toilets. The babies were laid in them and the lids closed and they were pushed over against the far wall.

There was only George and Janet left!

He sat Sam in a chair and went over to the whiteboard, all the questions he had asked had been answered, and there was no answer! There was absolutely no difference between George and all the others. The results on the stomach contents were back and revealed nothing either. Jack gave the go ahead for Janet to be given charcoal, something easier said than done. They tried mixing it with milk instead of water but she would not drink it, in the end Dixon sorted it by mixing it with baby blackcurrant juice, by the time she had taken half an ounce she looked like something from a 1960s horror movie, black gunk running all over her lower face as she spit it out. Testing her after an hour showed no difference, they decided to give it a while longer. Sam held George and cried a lot. It was enough to break the hardest heart, she was not one for crying, always being the good solider and not showing weakness but this was an attack through her children and she could think of nothing to help the situation. She was also feeling a little ill herself, though she was still not hungry, and the doctors were getting worried for her health if she continued not to eat.

Should she try and eat, and risk getting a build-up of whatever it was, and maybe slip into a coma again? Or should she not eat and risk … death by malnutrition?

Thors hologram appeared in the room "O'Neill! The craft has appeared on the other side of the asteroid belt, we are going to try to capture them and communicate"

"Good luck buddy!" Jack said, maybe they were getting somewhere after all?

It was a tense five minutes before something happened and it was not what they expected. All of a sudden there was complete and utter silence! The machine that had been monitoring Janets heart stopped beeping quietly, the pods all slowly drifted to the floor until they settled, the very slight background hum they emitted silenced.

They couldn't even hear the air conditioning, and that noise was always, ALWAYS there in the complex. Then a white beam of light filled the room and when everyone could see again, Sam and all the babies had gone!

Jacks cry of anguish was something primitive and full of pain, and it took Teal'c Dixon and Daniel to hold him as he started thumping his fists into the wall in frustration. Dr. Lyman gave him a mild sedative until he calmed down, trying not to knock him out.

Thor appeared minutes later to say that the ship he detected had been an illusion, a projection, he was astonished to hear of the disappearances and saying he would investigate he disappeared himself.

He was back within the hour with Hermiod who asked to see Jacks shield. They consulted with each other and then Hermiod turned to the humans.

"This was something I did not expect. I apologise for not considering it. A scan of the facility shows a narrow, accurate EM pulse was directed specifically at this room, every piece of electronic machinery in a direct line vertically has stopped working. This includes the personal shields everyone was wearing AND the shield up on level 18."

All the computers in the room that had been Daniels lab were fried, as a result of the EM fields 'leaking' a little. Luckily nothing of vital importance to the survival of the staff had been hit, though individual AC machines needed replacing. Some medical equipment would never work again, but luckily there was no one in need of a heart/lung bypass or a dialysis machine at the moment.

It was obvious that whoever had done this had known that Thor would go after the ship he detected. And they had also worked out how to neutralise the Asgard technology.

It was now a little over an hour since Jacks whole family had disappeared and he still could not think straight when a nurse entered the room to say that General Landry wanted them to call him. She pointed to the phone, evidently the light box was no longer working and Siler had disabled the ring. Daniel picked the receiver up and listened to the other end, his face brightening. "Jack! Come on" he said sharply and rushed to the door. He ran into the infirmary linen store and picked up and armful of blankets and ran back out.

"The control room had just received a message to make a comfortable place for the babies in the 'gate room, and they will be returned. He ran towards the elevator, 2 doctors, SG13, 3 nurses, Jack and Teal'c and himself all managed to squeeze into the car together.

At '28 they could see field kits from SG9 being spread out, their sleeping bags unzipped and their field blankets already spread, they had been just about to go offworld when the message came into Waters machine. Daniel dumped his load and '9 started to make a nest type arrangement until all the blankets were used and they stepped back, waiting for… something.

Jack went into the control room and read the message on the screen, it was simple and to the point "Make a suitable, comfortable place for the children to lay on, in the centre of the floor in front of the gate" Everyone was watching the pile of blankets, over 5 minutes passed and Jack was just beginning to think they had been played when the bright light filled the room and there in the middle of the 'nest' was Sam, looking as though she was asleep, surrounded by children. Jack had never seen a lovelier sight in his life!

He ran down just as the first baby started to cry, soon all of them were crying, he had never heard any sound so welcome to his ears. Sam sat herself up, and looked around then she gathered two of the children in her arms and kissed them, put them down and moved to the next two, until she had done it to all of them. Jack dropped to his knees and did the same. '13, Daniel and Teal'c all had massive smiles on their faces but the doctors were trying to tell everyone to move and to let them through.

Jack stood, dragging Sam to her feet along with him and turned to the 'babysitting squad' and told them to get the kids and he told everyone to head for the infirmary. He swung Sam into his arms and like a mother duck followed by her babies he lead the way to the elevator and then down the corridors to the nursery.

They had to make two cars at the elevator as they did not want to squash the babies, but eventually Clan O'Neill was back in the room they had been in for the week.

Tests were ordered and bloods taken, Sam said she felt 100 fit and she too was tested. She also said she felt hungry and had a craving for protein so Jack sent an order to the commissary for whatever meat they had on the menu, when it turned out to be meat loaf he dispatched a guard to buy 14 steaks from O'Malley's, and he used the silent phone to call Hank to come get one once they arrived.

Everyone was laughing all the time, it was as if they were drunk with joy! Siler fixed the phone, Walter contacted the president, and Jack kept trying to get in touch with Thor but was getting no reply.

A couple of hours later, all staff fed the best cooked steaks in town, the results of the babies bilirubin tests came back and were well down into 'normal' range, between 9 μmol/L and 7 μmol/L . The 'substance' in Sams blood was no longer present and she insisted she felt fine.

It was about time for bed, it had been a long day for everyone. Jack spent a few minutes with each baby telling them how much he loved them and the he and Sam spooned together on the bed that was back in the corner of the nursery and went to sleep fully dressed again facing the room.


	19. Chapter 19

**19**

He was woken at 04:45 by the sound of a transport beam. He jumped up to see Heimdall in the room. He looked around, 2 SG13 members were sitting in chairs, they had been asleep by the look of them, Dr. Cook was leant over his table at the far side of the room, drooling on his keyboard, the babies were all asleep and Sam had turned over as soon as he moved, but had not wakened.

Jack gestured for them to go out into the corridor and Hermiod followed. I have received sufficient neutronium to make the new shield devices, and have built in an EMP shield as well, he held out his hand and dropped a small circle of metal into his palm. The new disk was tiny! It was less than an inch across and only a millimetre thick, if that!

He heard a noise and Sam came out of the room "Hey, tried not to wake you," he whispered.

"I always miss you when you move away from me, used to wake me every time you went on watch offworld," she said in the same low volume.

"Here," he passed her the disks "the new, improved, EM pulse resistant shield"

"Jesus! So small!" she examined it the best she could.

"I have altered the controls because of the size and the fact that your hands are so much bigger" he picked it out of Sams palm and demonstrated "If you press here" the 'top' chevron "it activates the shield," he turned it over and you could see the rear of the chevron glowing "I put the indicator on the rear so it would not look out of place as a piece of normal earth jewellery, if you press here…" he pressed the gap between the two chevrons at the bottom "You get a transport report to the master shields," he turned it over and the bottom two chevrons were glowing.

"The master shields will be the shield devices worn by both of you, the children's devices will not report, though the information will be stored in them for retrieval in case both of you are ever taken and only the children are left" 'Happy camper this Asgard' Jack thought, but then it was better thinking this sort of thing now rather than finding out you needed it after they had gone missing!

"I have been studying jewellery for the hour with Lt. Novak and she has suggested something like this…" another shield appeared on his palm, this one was attached to a chain at either side and made a silver bracelet. "I have designed this so the chain will expand as the child grows so that it always fits and Lt. Novak has suggested each childs name in the centre, so that it looks like an 'ID' bracelet," he put his hand out and another appeared "Or, she suggests, this," and they could see a representation of St. Christopher.

Jack was a lapsed Catholic, and Sam was not a believer in anything but science really, but they both liked both ideas. Eventually Jack, ever one to cut through to the point asked if they could have the St. Christopher on one side and their names on the reverse.

Sam asked that the childrens shields be linked to theirs in some way, so if Jack decided to transport them all to the cabin they did not have to turn all eight off individually and then back on after they got where they were going. This seemed to remind Hermiod of something and he held out his palm and a transport stone appeared in it.

"Thor wanted me to give you this if I could get you alone" he said. She picked it up and looked at him "It is tied to the same points in space as O'Neills stone, but Thor had a feeling that O'Neill would not want everyone to know that you had the ability to travel without him."

Jack blessed the little alien, he had wanted to ask for one for her but thought it may be asking too much, and he was correct Jack, did NOT want TPTB to know she could zip about the country at will without him.

"Any news on the Furlings?" Jack asked.

"Not as yet" the alien replied. "however we are hopeful that everything will settle down now, as the children and Colonel Carter are healthy again"

"We can hope" Jack said.

Hermiod left to make up the other bracelets, taking the ones he had demonstrated with him, Jack felt a slight unease at being in shielded but as Sam pointed out, they may have been healed quicker if it had not been for them having to get around the shield technology to take them, and they had not harmed them in any way.

Jack still had not told her about the loss of her ovaries, and he was still no closer to being able to either.

He asked if she wanted to get a shower and changed and they headed off to her old quarters to do just that, they got a little side tracked once they were naked, but they were sat in the commissary within the hour.

They spent a leisurely time over breakfast, Daniel and Teal'c joining them at about 06:30 they discussed what would be happening now, Daniel was still determined to get to Atlantis and Teal'c had been voted leader of the Free Nation of the Jaffa Ruling Council, for which he got heartfelt congratulations from everyone, he also revealed that he had asked Ishta to marry him, and the wedding was planned for 3 months time. He was also about to become a grandfather, though he was a bit worried that Rya'c was rushing things, after all he had been over 80 before he had had his son!

Sam was torn between going back to R&D in '51 or giving up entirely to look after the children, a plan that Jack vetoed. "You love your job!" he said "I have a plan in place, lets see how it goes"

They would have to hire a nanny or two any way no one could look after eight babies by themselves, they would soon become exhausted, so long as they could make it home every evening, the kids would not suffer from not having them there 24/7 and of course they would be in school soon, Jack knew that the time flew between birth and school, even Sarah had said it had, so it was not just that he was busy and missed it.

He had asked Sam if they could get married quickly when they were getting showered that morning, and so he told the boys that they would be having the service some time in the following week and hoped they could both stay to attend. The only thing Sam could see that could spoil everything was Mark!

He knew very well that she had not had children last month, she had been visiting him back then, after the cabin, touching base now he was her only family member left. Jack had an idea about that too, but he needed a word with the president before he could say anything.

They got up and headed to the nursery just in time to grab the 4 babies that SG13 did not have, the broad smiles on the faces of the tough soldiers as they sat feeding the children was a sight to be seen. Jack imagined his smile was even broader, after all he was the proud dad!

They had all just settled into chairs when Dr. Cook came over and gave them an update. The bilirubin levels had not increased overnight, but the children were now about 3 months developed. They had no idea, of course, if this would continue, so Jack tried to use his stone to communicate with Thor only to get the equivalent of an answer machine, Heimdalls hologram appeared and said that Thor was busy at present and would respond as soon as he was able. Jack asked Heimdall about the babies aging and he said he would look into it, as there was no sign of the usual nano technology that was usually in the bloodstream of people who aged rapidly. Heimdall disappeared as suddenly as he had arrived.

SGs 1 and '13 spent a pleasant morning looking after the healthy children and beaming with pride at the first teeth that had appeared Dixon suggested that they be started on weaning, baby rice or something, depending on how often they were going to have to be fed, and as he had half as many children himself he was considered the resident expert on mass-baby-handling.

The kids proved him right in wanting a feed less than 2 hours later, and as he pointed out smugly, once there were less than two whole SG teams it would run you into the ground fast trying to just keep them fed. Dr. Cook agreed and baby rice was ordered in… they sent a nurse into town for it… and some larger sized clothes, 6-9 month as well as 3-6, just in case.

Hank was still keeping himself out of the way and Jack went looking for him at lunch time, but what can you say to a man whose child tried to harm yours? Especially when it wasn't some playground stunt, Carolyn was in her 30s! He ended up leaving the General in his office, no closer to forgiving himself than when Jack arrived.

As everyone was sat around the nursery eating finger foods for lunch so they could be available when the kids woke up again, Thor appeared in a flash of light and asked to speak to Jack and Sam alone. The two got up, rather than kick everyone else out, and they headed for the infirmary only to find Dr. Lyman trying to stem the flow of blood pouring from Silers leg. The doc looked up as they started backing up and said "if you are looking for somewhere quiet there's my office" and they went into the little room.

"O'Neill I have been in negotiation with the Furlings since last night" so much for no news "they were not 'ready' to allow you to see them, but are becoming desperate, and ask that you will forgive them and help them."

"They couldn't ask before?" he snapped "Did they explain what all this was about?"

"They did, and now I will explain it to you, if you will listen" Jack realised he was pacing about with his hands in his pockets again, so he too them out and sat behind the desk, pulling Sam into his lap to stop himself jumping up again.

"As you know, we lost touch with the Furlings millennia ago, back then we had been cloning our bodies only a few hundred years, and looked much as you do today. The Furlings have a…problem, and were hoping the Asgard could help them, however when they managed to find us they realised we could not help them after all. They intercepted our communications over the last few years and realised from them that YOU could be what they needed. However they did not know how developed you were and rather than ask you they decided they should take what they needed." Thor lowered his head "I am afraid that this is partly my fault" he said


	20. Chapter 20

**20**

"How can it be your fault?" Jack asked "You didn't decide to steal us without asking… Ok bad example" the more he thought about it the more Jack realised that the Asgard rarely asked anything until they were actually already on their way to the fire they needed putting out. Maybe the Furlings HAD learnt from the Asgard how to interact with humans.

"It was my praise of you that made the Furlings pick you as their subjects, it seems that my communications concerning Colonel Carter and yourself O'Neill managed to persuade them that you were that genetically advanced and Colonel Carter so clever that together you could solve almost everything, however they did not realise I meant that you could solve it yourselves, they thought I meant we could solve it with help from your DNA"

Jack had a half smug half embarrassed look on his face, Sam was blushing all the way down her throat, he wondered how far down that lush went and his General started to sit up and be noticed, it didn't help with her sitting on his lap. She gave him an arch look and wiggled! He would pay her back later!

He was having difficulty thinking about what Thor was saying, with all the blood rushing south, but he tried!

"The Furlings problem then?" he asked

"As I mentioned before, the Furlings were always apathetic. Now this has extended to breeding, they have declined seriously, from several hundred billion at the height of their colonisation days, to less than half a million now."

"That's still a decent gene pool though" Sam said

"Yes but in the last 10 years eight hundred have died, only 100 have been born, they will be extinct in less than a hundred years, as will we if we do not find our answer. The Furlings have hinted that one of your children may hold a genetic key to our problem, however they have not found what THEY need and I have persuaded them to ask for your help"

Jack was rubbing Sams back as Thor mentioned one of the children holding the key, he felt her stiffen "holds the key?" he asked

"On a genetic level, please do not be alarmed, we will not seek to hurt the child in any way, we only ask for a blood sample every month until she is mature"

"She? I thought it would be George?" as he was the only one to not fall ill.

"No the child with the genetic trait that may save the Asgard is Grace" they were informed

Jack picked up the phone and asked to be put through to the General but it was Walter who answered. "We need to use the briefing room this afternoon Walter" he said, he looked at Thor "what time?"

"Shall we say two of your hours?" Jack looked at his watch

"15:00 Walter, inform General Landry will you…"

"The General has not reported in this afternoon as yet Sir, he left base just after your meeting but has not returned," he paused as if waiting for Jack to work out a question and then continued "He is not answering his phone, I was about to contact you and ask permission to send a couple of SFs to his house"

"That's OK Walter, I'll get Thor to take me around, I'll let you know when he will be in"

Jack looked straight into Sams eyes, and he could tell she could see what he was thinking, she gave a small gasp and Jack asked Thor to transport them to his ship and give a map of the area. Seconds later they had zoomed into the small bungalow that Jack had visited just once and they were beamed into the living room.

The room was a mess, and it was not recent. Pizza boxes and empty beer bottles were scattered everywhere and the smell was appalling, there were maggots crawling all over and Jack gingerly picked his way out of the door, his weapon drawn. In the bedroom, laid out in his full dress blues, lay the body of Hank Landry, he was past saving, having blown the rear of his head off using a large pistol in his mouth. Jack stopped Sam from entering the room and spoke towards the ceiling, "Bring us back" Thor did so and then beamed them into the briefing room where Walter was sat in the Generals chair. It was quite obvious that he knew what had happened without being told, and at Jacks order he sent a security detail to retrieve the body and secure the scene. Jack asked Thor to locate and transport General Hammond, and he was there in minutes, he had been at his daughters house less than 5 miles away. Jack told him what he had found, and stated his shock at the state of the house, it was obvious that it was not all about Carolyn and her betrayal, but that would have been the last straw.

He told Hammond about the up coming meeting and repeated the information Thor had passed on about Grace and the Furlings themselves, and asked him to sit in on it. Walter returned with doughnuts and coffee and told Jack his beaming closet was ready, Jack only had to take twenty steps from the door of the briefing room, past the Generals office and the small private bathroom, and there it was "KEEP OUT! Authorized personnel only" Walter told him that only his card could open the door, Sam whispered in his ear that she could change that without anyone knowing.

"Should we invite the president?" Jack asked George.

"Wouldn't hurt son," he replied "and the more he sees you as important to communication with the allies, the stronger your position for getting what you want" he loved this man!

Jack stepped into the small room and said 'oval' into his stone, appearing behind the huge plant and scaring the same secretary into a scream. "Is he available to see me?" he asked and she just nodded, her mouth still open

He knocked on the door and once he heard permission he entered and invited the president to meet their latest contacts, Hayes agreed and they stepped out of the office, the secret service men had to move the plant after all so that Jack could stand in the corner with a hand on the presidents shoulder and one on his chief of security, who would not let him go alone. 'SGC' Jack said loudly and they were back in the closet, it was a good job that Walter had had the shelves removed or the hulking guard would not have fit, even Teal'c did not have shoulders that wide!

Jack gestured for them to open the door and he led the president on his first visit to the facility into the briefing room and the best view of the 'gate.

At the presidents order Jack sat at the head of the table, Sam on his right, the president on his left, Hammond next to the president, Daniel next to Sam, then Teal'c. Thor was sat next to General Hammond and the end of the table there was room enough for a delegation of three.

They had been sat only 10 minutes, getting Daniel, Teal'c and Hammond up to speed on bits they had missed. A white light appeared and the Furlings had arrived!


	21. Chapter 21

**21**

Jack studied them they were a lot taller than the Asgard, almost as tall as he was, but they were just as skinny, they had regular features and looked almost human but they had the air of tranquillity that surrounded Lya the Nox woman that SG1 loved so much. They were all blond and their skin was very pale, and all had green eyes, and just visible under the hair of one of them were pointed ears. Elves!

He could not think of any other description, not the tiny fairy folk, the tall majestic sort of elves that Tolkien had written of. Their movements were graceful and studied as if they planned everything to save the maximum effort, and they exuded an air of…peace.

Thor spoke first to them in his own language and placed a stone on the table on front of him, as it landed his voice changed so that the humans, and presumably the Furlings could hear him in their native tongues, it saved time translating. It was programmed with the basic Furling language that the Asgard had known and with English, and of course, Asgard and Thor assured them that except for language drift it would be accurate.

He introduced the humans and then in turn the Furlings "Please be welcome Nol, Nom and Fer." The three aliens bowed their heads and Jack said

"Hiya folks" making Daniel cringe. "Let's get down to business shall we? What d you need, and why did you think WE" he gestured to Sam and himself "Could help?"

A slight hissing sound issued from Nol and was translated by the stone in the centre "We are a race dying, we do not wish to die, to pass from this place without being missed, without leaving something that said 'we were here' and yet we have no such legacy to leave, we need to survive to not just fade away"

"Do you know what it is you need in order to survive?" Daniel chipped in and Fer looked at him, tilted her head and then turned back to Jack and said

"There is something about your species that will not die, not because YOU will not die, but because you have something that will echo down time, we wish to learn what it is that you have and integrate it into ourselves"

"But you have no idea what 'IT' is?"

"Soul" came the reply.

"Soul?" Jack said surprised "You couldn't be a bit more specific?" he had already dismantled the pen next to his pad and was now doodling with the pencil

"If we could find a single thing that makes you as you are we would already have solved the problem, but we have not. In our studies of you we came across the phrase soul on your religious broadcast, it seems to describe everything about you that we lack. We thought that by helping to create new humans we would be able to find this 'soul' as it was created, but we failed." The people around the tabled gaped at each other. Were they serious? But Thor was nodding his head.

"Yes we too have noticed the souls of the humans, and their willingness to die for a cause, even one not their own if it will help others. They have overcome odds that any other race would have crumbled to face, and have come through with majesty, this is the thing that the Asgard esteem more than anything else"

"You have no suggestion as to how to transfer the 'soul'?"

"We do not, we see it as an integral part of humans, and of O'Neill in particular, his ability to love far surpasses anything we have seen before, and his willingness to sacrifice himself for that love goes beyond normal humans as well"

Jack was blushing furiously at this for cryin' out loud he was nothing special!

"However we could offer a suggestion" Thor said everyone looked at him. "We could take DNA from a group of Furlings and clone them, then we could transfer the consciousness of the O'Neill children into them as we would ourselves when we need new bodies. The children are too young to know what is happening and will grow as Furlings but have human souls. This will effect the children in no way at all, they would never know they had been copied unless they were told. As the clones would be genetically unrelated then they could mate with anyone they chose, including each other." Jack wasn't sure about this and wrote a big '' on his pad and slipped it to Sam, she nodded her head slightly.

She passed her pad to him and on it she had written "children aging?"

"Just a question here" Jack said "The children have accelerated aging, is this going to continue?"

Nol looked at Fer and then at Jack "We can stop that if you wish and return them to normal speed, we just realised that they would not develop to the point of interaction for some time so we accelerated things" Jack nodded

"Yeah you can do that for us now." He said and sat back, making sure it was obvious that nothing was going to be said until it was sorted. Fer stood and in a flash of light she was gone, Jack went to the Generals office and contacted '13 in the nursery, the alien was hovering over each child in turn and a gold light was emanating from his/her(?)/its hand, Jack waited until Dave told him it had vanished and then returned to the briefing room to see it waiting for him.

"Sam, a word?" he inclined his head to the office and she stood and walked towards him he led her inside and shut the door "there is another thing we didn't tell you. When you were brought back that first time you were in a bad way and Thor took you to his ship." she nodded, she remembered waking up there, though not arriving. "Thor discovered that… that… your ovaries had been removed, we think the Furlings did it but we don't know why" she went pale and started shaking, he hugged her tight to stop her from falling, he was about to open the door and call for Daniel to help her when Heimdall appeared in the room.

"We have been monitoring and have decided to ask if you need our help in this matter, we can grow organs separately if we wish, though we do not usually as it is as easy for us to change whole bodies, easier in fact."

Sam looked at him, thinking, "We have eight beautiful children, and with everything my body has gone through this last decade or so I don't know if I could have any, Janet thought I may have problems after the whole Jolinar thing. I very much doubt I am going to want more than the ones we have now, even if I did get them by cheating. But I want the ovaries destroyed, they are not going to be able to keep making my children to experiment on."

Jack nodded, she could have taken it a lot worse, he held her, whispering words of love in her ear until she recovered completely and they both went and sat down. The whole room was silent as if nothing could be said or done without them there

"We have another thing to discuss, though this is NOT open for discussion, so don't believe it is, you still have Colonel Carters ovaries, you will hand them to the Asgard. Thor, you will check and make sure they are hers by whatever tests you need and then you will destroy them. The same goes for any sperm reserve you have of mine. You will NOT be making more children from us!" The president and Hammond looked shocked, Jack had not told either of them about Sam as she had been present most of the time. Nol and Fer both looked at each other and then agreed, Jack noticed that Nom had not said or done anything since arriving, the other two almost ignored it.

Jack, ever the diplomat, said "Nom do you agree?" The two others looked shocked at his address. Thor answered quickly

"The Furling society is matriarchal, Nol and Fer are male, and as such are the mouthpieces of Nom, who is the elder female of the ship. This was not always the case, in times past both sexes were considered equal but the problem with decreased birth rate has meant that females have gained more and more influence as they try to solve the problem."

Jack was glad '3 wasn't about he could imagine the comments that load of chauvinists would make.

In the end the meeting broke with not much decided, Jack promised them access to specialists in fertility, if they could locate any with security clearance, and offered to meet them any time they asked, and consider any reasonable request. Daniel was dying to find out their history and they promised that they would have someone available to talk to him when he returned from Atlantis. Teal'c offered the services of the Free Jaffa Nation, if they needed it and Thor offered to act as mediator at any and all meetings.

The Furlings left and Thor told everyone that Hermiod had the shields ready for the children, so they trouped up to '21 and into the nursery, the president included. Hermiod had attached all but Richards bracelet and he held it up to show them. St. Christopher was there carrying the Christ child on his shoulder, and around the edge was written 'Richard O'Neill' with gaps for the chevrons. He placed it on the babies wrist and it locked in place.

He handed the adults their shields, the disks being slightly larger so they could be activated with their larger fingers Jacks said 'Jack O'Neill' and Sams said 'Samantha O'Neill' he was abut to protest when she put her fingers over his lips and smiled.

"I was going to change my name when we got married and Novak knew it, that's why she had that name engraved" Jack swung her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

"We have one more surprise for you Jack" Henry Hayes said "sort of a physical sign of my apology for being such a klutz earlier, but I am afraid it won't be ready for a while yet" he turned to Thor and said

"Could you please show him?" and a hologram of his old house appeared and a machine with a wrecking ball! They knocked down the house as he watched!

In place of the building in the hologram came a 3D image of an artists sketch, showing a very large house on the same land, it covered double the area and was three stories tall. In the back garden was a patio with a brick built barbeque on it, and a decent sized swimming pool and a fenced off section with a swing set, a slide and sandpit.

"Hopefully it will be ready in a month or so, we bought part of the land behind as well so you can have some private time amongst the trees if you need to, though with your holiday cabin you may not wish to."

Jack and Sam looked at the home in the hologram and hugged each other, here they were two people who had had a total of 4 dates and had been engaged just a week, and now had eight children and the president of the US of A giving them a dream house to live in, they couldn't be happier.

**The End**

Continued in Keeping it in the Family


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